U.S. Customs and Border Protection reports that a Puerto Rico business and its owner have pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to smuggle goods to avoid paying antidumping duties of approximately 330.69 percent, countervailing duties of approximately 358.81 percent, and other duties of approximately 25 percent.
A CBP press release states that the company and owner conspired with a citizen of China to cause a container with porcelain mosaic tiles manufactured in China to be shipped from China to Malaysia, where they were labeled as “Made in Malaysia” before being shipped to Puerto Rico. The total amount of unpaid duties and tariffs on this shipment was approximately $1.1 million.
The Chinese citizen previously pleaded guilty and was sentenced to the approximately four-month term of imprisonment he had served and then removed from the U.S. The Puerto Rico company and its president now face a maximum penalty of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, a three-year term of supervised release, and a payment of $1,090,000 in restitution.
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