The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Aug. 16-22:

A federal jury found six companies guilty of a conspiracy to defraud the U.S. through a “wire-and-customs” fraud scheme in which $1.8 billion in antidumping and countervailing duties were avoided on aluminum extrusions imported to the U.S. from China, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District 0f California said Aug. 23. Disguising the extrusions as “pallets,” the goods were shipped to the U.S. and sold to fraudulently inflate a Chinese company's revenues, the Department of Justice said. Litigation over the aluminum pallets has been going on in multiple venues (see 2011090041).

CBP cannot limit the amount of drawback that can be claimed on excise taxes, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said in an Aug. 23 opinion upholding the Court of International Trade's ruling. Holding that the CBP regulation defied the "clear intent of Congress," the appellate court ruled against the government appeal of CIT's decision, providing a win for the plaintiffs, the National Association of Manufacturers and The Beer Institute.

The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Aug. 9-15:

Humberto Baez, a Pennsylvania-based produce importer, was sentenced to 13 years in prison Aug. 12 for conspiring to import and distribute cocaine, the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York said. Baez conspired with others to bring in the cocaine in shipping containers from the Dominican Republic between August 2016 and March 2018. Baez first conducted two “dry run” shipments via an importing company which contained only produce to appear as a real business. A third shipment brought into Miami in February 2018 contained around 16 kilograms of cocaine in the flaps of cardboard boxes that also housed chili peppers, the attorney's office said. The shipment was being shipped to Baez's warehouse in Pennsylvania when the container was searched and seized by law enforcement in March 2018.

The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Aug. 2-8:

Four individuals were arrested Aug. 11 for their roles in a scheme to traffic counterfeit goods with a retail value of over $130 million, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York said. The group is charged with importing generic goods from China, applying brand labels to the goods, then selling the counterfeit-branded goods to retail and wholesale purchasers, in clear violation of anti-trafficking provisions, the attorney's office said. The counterfeit goods included fake UGG boots, Nike Air Jordan shoes, Timberland boots and Beats by Dr. Dre headphones. Another three defendants in the 14-count indictment remain at large.

The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of July 26 - Aug. 1:

The U.S. is seeking more than $18 million from importer Crown Cork & Seal in a July 28 complaint filed in the Court of International Trade alleging that the company fraudulently misclassified its metal lid imports to skirt a 2.6% duty rate. The goods -- metal lids for food, beverage, household and consumer products -- are properly classified under Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading 8309.90.0000 and are dutiable at that 2.6% rate, the Department of Justice said. Instead, CCS attempted to classify its metal lid imports from Europe between 2004 and 2009 under HTS subheading 7326.90.1000, which has duty-free treatment (United States v. Crown Cork & Seal, USA, Inc. et al., CIT #21-361).

Stargate Apparel, Rivstar Apparel and their former owner and CEO, Joseph Bailey, settled a False Claims Act case with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York over the companies' use of inaccurate invoices to underreport their clothing imports, the Department of Justice said July 28. Under the settlement, Bailey and the New York-headquartered companies admitted to engaging in the fraudulent schemes. Bailey will pay $3.2 million while the employee stock ownership plan that owns the two companies will pay a combined $2.8 million, DOJ said. Bailey and the companies led two “double invoicing” schemes 2004-2015, according to the complaint.