The United States has opened a civil suit against a furniture company executive for allegedly making false statements to customs officials to avoid paying import duties on products manufactured in China to be sold in the United States.
The Department of Justice (DOJ), Customs and Border Protection, and Homeland Security Investigations officials announced the suit on Oct. 31, alleging Lawrence Bivona, former president of Delaware-based company LaJobi Inc., evaded paying around $7 million in duties. The company sold children’s furniture.
The goods that Bivona imported were subject to tariffs of 216 percent, but the executive allegedly made false statements that resulted in the company only paying up to 7 percent import duty rates. According to the DOJ, Bivona misrepresented the manufacturers of goods imported so the company could pay lower duties.
The tariff had been implemented as an antidumping measure to counter the Chinese communist regime’s subsidization of Chinese industries to the point of harming United States businesses, according to officials.
“Anti-dumping duties play an important role in countering illegal foreign trade practices and protecting U.S. manufacturers,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the DOJ’s Civil Division. “We will continue to pursue those who seek to gain an unfair advantage by violating our trade laws.”
The furniture imports occurred in 2009 and 2010. The government is seeking $15 million in civil penalties in addition to $7 million in recovery of unpaid tariffs.
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The United States, the European Union, and other nations have recently increased the use and enforcement of tariffs on Chinese imports to combat the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) trade practices. China under the CCP does not have a free market economy; the regime instead sets and enforces industry output to align with the regime’s goals.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan recently said these tariffs have helped prevent a second “China shock” on U.S. industries.
