International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Jan. 22-26 in case they were missed.
A textile importer will pay more than $2.3 million to settle allegations that it misclassified its entries to save on duties, in violation of the False Claims Act, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia said in a recent press release. American Dawn and its owners, Adnan Rawjee, Habib Rawjee and Mahmud Rawjee, allegedly entered terry bath towels as “polishing clothes,” costing the U.S. government over $1 million in unpaid duties, according to the underlying complaint, filed by a former employee.
The Justice Department recently issued a memo detailing circumstances when its attorneys should seek dismissal of False Claims Act whistleblower lawsuits. In addition to the government’s ability to intervene on the whistleblower’s side in False Claims Act suits, the law also gives it the less commonly used ability to end cases, even without the whistleblower’s consent. According to the memo, dated Jan. 10, government lawyers should ask courts to dismiss False Claims Act suits in which the whistleblower’s claims are meritless or frivolous, or when the lawsuit is “parasitic or opportunistic” in that it duplicates an existing government investigation or the suit interferes with an agency’s policies or programs.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Jan. 16-19 in case they were missed.
A Virginia-based furniture importer has agreed to pay $10.5 million to settle a whistleblower’s claims that it made false statements on entry documentation in an attempt to evade antidumping duties, the Justice Department said in a Jan. 16 press release. Bassett Mirror Company allegedly misclassified its furniture as non-bedroom furniture, avoiding a 216% AD duty on wooden bedroom furniture from China. The settlement ends a False Claims Act case filed by Kelly Wells, an ecommerce furniture retailer, and subsequently joined by the government. Wells will receive $1.9 million, which comes on top of another $2.4 million Wells received in an associated whistleblower case against Z Gallerie in 2016 (see 1604270033).
The Supreme Court on Oct. 2 declined to hear an appeal of a recent ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit that False Claims Act whistleblower lawsuits may be filed for failure to pay marking duties on unmarked or improperly marked imports. A lower court had in 2015 dismissed the lawsuit (see 1504290070), filed against the pipe fitting importer Victaulic by Customs Fraud Investigations, a company founded to investigate customs fraud, before it was resurrected by the appeals court (see 1610060030). Victaulic subsequently appealed to the Supreme Court, which denied certiorari in the case without comment.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Sept. 5-8 in case they were missed.
The Justice Department’s recent intervention in a whistleblower case against a UK retailer that allegedly split shipments on its U.S. imports to avoid duties “sends a clear message that this behavior will not be tolerated,” said the law firm Constantine Cannon, which represents the whistleblower, in a Sept. 8 press release. The July complaint alleges that Pure Collection and its executive Samantha Harrison deliberately split large orders so their shipments to the U.S. would fall under the $200 de minimis threshold, later raised to $800, despite knowing the practice violated customs rules.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Aug. 14-18 in case they were missed.
The U.S. government filed a federal court complaint on Aug. 10 alleging a Florida importer of wooden bedroom furniture sought to evade antidumping duties and customs fees by misclassifying and undervaluing its furniture imports. Blue Furniture Solutions evaded “millions of dollars” in duties and fees by classifying its wooden bedroom furniture as metal and office furniture to avoid a 216.01% antidumping duty rate, and stating false values of its imports on entry documentation.