Importer Sun Ray Group and its owner, Jihua "Mike" Liu, face over $15 million in penalties for alleged fraud and lying on customs forms and underpayment duties on vegetable entries. A complaint at the Court of International Trade filed Dec. 6 by the DOJ says that Liu and Sun Ray avoided duties on 216 entries of dried and dehydrated garlic, onion and other vegetables, and also owe nearly $2 million in unpaid duties (United States v. Jihua "Mike" Liu, CIT #22-00330).
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the weeks of Nov. 21-27 and Nov. 28 - Dec. 4:
Colorado-based Ellab Inc. and its Danish parent company, Ellab A/S, paid the U.S. over $700,000 to settle charges that it failed to pay customs duties on imports of thermal validation equipment, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Colorado announced Dec. 1. The U.S. alleged Ellab failed to classify its imports and properly declare their value, neglecting to pay the full amount of the duties owed on the goods.
Grand Prairie, Texas, resident Suhaib Allababidi pleaded guilty Nov. 30 to lying to the government about the origin of his company's products, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Texas announced. The defendant and his company, 2M Solutions, both pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. The company also pleaded guilty to one count of filing false or misleading export information.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Nov. 14-20:
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the weeks of Oct. 31 - Nov. 6 and Nov. 7-13:
Michael Monegro, a Philippines national, was sentenced to 240 months in federal prison for fatally stabbing a fellow crewmember on a cargo container ship sailing from Shanghai to Los Angeles, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California announced. Monegro pleaded guilty in May to one count of committing an act of violence against a person onboard a ship that is likely to endanger the safe navigation of the ship (see 2205030014).
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Oct. 24-30:
Herdade Lokua and Jospin Mujangi, citizens of the Democratic Republic of Congo, were sentenced, respectively, to 20 months and 14 months in prison for their roles in a scheme to smuggle wildlife products from the DRC to Seattle, DOJ announced. Both defendants pleaded guilty to conspiracy and Lacey Act charges.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Oct. 17-23: