The Justice Department has announced that GEM Manufacturing LLC of the U.S. Virgin Islands, a manufacturer of high-end jewelry, art, and sculpture items, was sentenced to pay a criminal fine of $1.8 million for knowingly trading in falsely-labeled, protected black coral that was shipped into the U.S. in violation of the Endangered Species Act and the Lacey Act. When combined with another fine for community service work and forfeiture of items worth $2.17 million, the aggregate financial penalty of $4.47 million makes this the largest for the illegal trade in coral, the largest non-seafood wildlife trafficking financial penalty and the fourth largest for any U.S. case involving the illegal trade of wildlife.

The Court of International Trade has denied BASF Corp.'s motion for summary judgment in a case concerning the classification of Betavits, mixtures containing synthetic beta-carotene. The CIT states that there are genuine issues of material facts as to whether such mixtures belong to the class of goods principally used as coloring matter, as argued by BASF, or provitamins, as classified by Customs.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has announced that the U.S. government has filed two civil forfeiture complaints against approximately $70.8 million in real and personal property from Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, a government minister for Equatorial Guinea. He allegedly acquired criminal proceeds through corruption and money laundering, in violation of both Equatoguinean and U.S. law.

The Justice Department has announced that Michael Todd, president of The Parts Guys LLC in Florida, has been sentenced to 46 months in prison, a $10,000 fine and was ordered to forfeit $160,362 in connection with his efforts to illegally export military components for fighter jets and attack helicopters from the U.S. to Iran.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has announced that Stephanie McCloskey, an administrator for VisionTech Components, LLC, has been sentenced to 38 months in prison for her role in a scheme in which she and others imported counterfeit integrated circuits from China and Hong Kong and sold them to the U.S. Navy, defense contractors and others, marketing some of the products as "military-grade."

The Justice Department has announced that five individuals and four of their companies have been indicted as part of a conspiracy to defraud the U.S. that allegedly caused thousands of radio frequency modules to be illegally exported from the U.S. to Iran. At least 16 of those items were later found in unexploded improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in Iraq. Some defendants are also charged in a conspiracy involving exports of military antennas to Singapore and Hong Kong.

The Justice Department is announcing that the former president of Terra Telecommunications Corp. was sentenced to 15 years in prison for his role in a scheme to pay bribes to Haitian government officials at Telecommunications D’Haiti S.A.M. (Haiti Telecom), a state-owned telecommunications company. The former executive vice president of Terra was also sentenced to 84 months in prison for his role in the bribery scheme. According to DOJ, this sentence -- the longest sentence ever imposed in a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) case -- is a stark reminder to executives that bribing government officials to secure business advantages is a serious crime with serious consequences.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted a video regarding the work that lead to the conviction of a Tijuana business man who was sentenced to 70 months in prison and a $7 million fine for his illegal transshipment scheme involving the importation of wire hangers into the U.S. from China that were subject to antidumping duty, then shipping the hangers in bond to Mexico, marking them as made in Mexico, and then importing them back into the U.S. and claiming NAFTA duty benefits.

Furniture Brands International, Inc. filed questionnaire responses for the International Trade Commission in 2005 opposing the issuance of an AD duty order on wooden bedroom furniture from China, but later sought a share of AD duties resulting from the order, under the Byrd Amendment (aka the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act of 2000 (CDSOA).

Chinese producer Hebei Foreign Trade and Advertising Corporation contested the final results of the International Trade Administration’s first AD administrative review of certain activated carbon from China, for the period October 11, 2006, through March 31, 2008. Finding that Hebei Foreign had failed to qualify for separate rate status because a sales agent, rather than a direct employee, had signed the separate rate questionnaire certifications, the ITA assigned the company the China-wide rate of 228.11%.