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Page 3 of 7

April 14, 2020

Importer Blue Furniture Solutions, LLC, its successor XMillennium, LLC, and former executives Yingqing Zeng and Alex Cheng have agreed to pay more than $5.2 million to settle allegations that they violated the False Claims Act in conspiring to evade customs duties and fees on furniture imported from China.  In a qui tam complaint by whistleblower University Loft Company, which the United States elected to intervene in, the defendants were accused of declaring wooden bedroom furniture as “metal” or “non-bedroom”, manipulating packing lists and invoices, and directing manufacturers to mislabel boxes and falsify invoices to help defendants evade U.S. customs officials.  USAO WDTX

December 12, 2019

For selling defective, Chinese-made products to the U.S. Department of Defense on fraudulently obtained contracts, Timothy Kelly, a California business manager for Emerson Company, has been sentenced to 2.5 years in prison.  Together with company owner Daniel Norton, who was sentenced to 8 years in prison, the two have also been ordered to pay $2.38 million in restitution, forfeit $333,000 in a bank account, and forfeit a $725,000 house in Hawaii.  USAO SDOH

November 18, 2019

Daniel Norton, the owner of former DOD contractor Emerson Company, has been sentenced to 8 years in prison following his guilty plea on charges that he fraudulently obtained government contracts and obstructed justice.  According to the evidence at trial, Emerson Company had been debarred in 2011, but Norton used front companies to fraudulently secure purchase orders for parts to be supplied to the military.  In violation of contract Buy-American requirements, Norton filled the purchase orders by supplying non-conforming products manufactured in China, even where the contract called for a specific part from an American manufacturer.  In addition to his prison sentence, Norton was ordered to pay $2.4 million in restitution, and forfeit property valued at over $1 million.  USAO SD OH

September 12, 2019

Italian textile company Miroglio Textile S.R.L. and its U.S. affiliate Miroglio Textiles USA, Inc. will pay $650,000 to resolve charges brought in a whistleblower action alleging that the companies fraudulently reduced their obligation to pay customs duties on fabrics, decals, and other products sold by the Italian company to U.S. customers. Without any bona fide business justification, the companies reported the imports as sales from the Italian company to the U.S. affiliate at discounted prices, and used those discounted prices as the basis to calculate duties.  These sales were shams, and Miroglio misrepresented their nature, and the relationship between the entities, in certifications to Customs & Border Protection.  USAO SDNY

June 20, 2019

Pennsylvania-based Support of Microcomputers Associates (SOMA) has agreed to a $300,000 judgment for violating the False Claims Act and Trade Agreements Act.  The Trade Agreements Act prohibits the sale of computer supplies manufactured in certain countries to some federal agencies, such as the Department of Defense.  However, according to a former SOMA executive’s lawsuit, the company allegedly sold federal agencies computer supplies made in China, Vietnam, and other non-compliant countries.  USAO EDPA

June 6, 2019

Joseph Bailey, the CEO of NYC-based children's clothing companies Stargate Apparel, Inc. and Rivstar Apparel, Inc., has been arrested, and the government has filed a civil complaint in intervention against all three, arising from their alleged actions in falsifying records regarding the value of goods imported to the U.S. in order to evade customs duty payment obligations.  Defendants allegedly engaged in double-invoicing schemes whereby a Chinese manufacturer would provide both a "pay by" invoice with the actual price, and a second, lower invoice, to be presented to Customs and Border Protection, or a "commercial invoice" and a second "sample invoice" in a larger amount, because sample goods are not subject to customs duties.  The schemes were first brought to the attention of federal law enforcement by a whistleblower who filed a lawsuit under the False Claims Act. USAO SDNY

May 13, 2019

Silicon Valley-based software company Informatica LLC will pay $21.57 million to resolve allegations that it provided false information about its commercial pricing and discounting practices that was then used in negotiations for Multiple Award Schedule contracts with the General Services Administration.  In addition, Informatica was alleged to have caused sales to the U.S. in violation of the Trade Agreements Act. The whistleblower, a former employee of Informatica, will receive $4.3 million from the settlement.  DOJ

May 13, 2019

British fashion company Selective Marketplace Ltd., which sells products in the U.S. under its brand names Wrap London and Poetry, will pay $610,000, to resolve a whistleblower suit under the False Claims Act alleging that it improperly broke up U.S.-bound orders into multiple shipments in order to keep the shipment values below the $200 limit that would obligate the payment of customs duties.  The whistleblowers, Kristin and Stephen Vale, will receive a share of the settlement proceeds.  USAO ME

April 9, 2019

Univar USA, Inc. has agreed to pay $62.5 million to settle claims that it engaged in unlawful transshipment of saccharin manufactured in China in order to evade antidumping duties.  Univar purchased the saccharin from a supplier in Taiwan, but was alleged to be grossly negligent or negligent in failing to identify that the Taiwan-based company was not the manufacturer, but simply had imported the saccharin from China for transshipment to the U.S.  Univar allegedly evaded $36 million in antidumping duties.  DOJ

November 13, 2018

Naum Morgovsky and Irina Morgovsky were sentenced following their guilty pleas for conspiracy to illegally export components for the production of night-vision and thermal devices to Russia in violation of the Arms Export Control Act, and for laundering the proceeds of the scheme.  The defendants purchased products using their U.S. business, Hitek International, representing that the products would not be exported.  The couple then shipped the products to Moscow-based Infratech using a variety of front companies and shipping methods.  They were sentenced to 108 months and 18 months, respectively, were assessed a $1 million fine, and forfeited $223 thousand.  DOJ