Russian-German national Arthur Petrov was extradited to the U.S., making his initial appearance in court Aug. 9 for allegedly committing export control violations, smuggling, wire fraud and money laundering, DOJ announced. Extradited from Cyprus, Petrov was charged for his part in a scheme to ship more than $225,000 worth of U.S.-sourced microelectronics to companies supplying weapons to the Russian military.
Jacob Kopnick
Jacob Kopnick, Associate Editor, is a reporter for Trade Law Daily and its sister publications Export Compliance Daily and International Trade Today. He joined the Warren Communications News team in early 2021 covering a wide range of topics including trade-related court cases and export issues in Europe and Asia. Jacob's background is in trade policy, having spent time with both CSIS and USTR researching international trade and its complexities. Jacob is a graduate of the University of Michigan with a B.A. in Public Policy.
The Court of International Trade on Aug. 9 granted importer Blockstream USA Corp.'s bids to dismiss three of its own customs cases on the classification of its cryptocurrency miners. The court previously dismissed one of the cases for failure to prosecute after Blockstream didn't move to extend the time for the case to remain on the customs case management calendar. This dismissal was set aside after the company asked the court to help correct the error (see 2404050029). Counsel for Blockstream didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on why the company moved to dismiss the cases (Blockstream Services USA v. U.S., CIT #s, 22-00101, 23-00018) (Blockstream USA Corp. v. United States, CIT # 20-00149).
The Court of International Trade's Pay.gov site will undergo maintenance on Aug. 17, 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. EDT, the court announced. Documents requiring payment on the site can't be filed on the CM/ECF platform during this time.
Antidumping duty petitioner American Brass Rod Fair Trade Coalition told the Court of International Trade that the Commerce Department erred in making an adjustment for AD respondent Rajhans Metal's claimed work-in-process (WIP) and in valuing the company's scrap offset. Filing a complaint Aug. 9, the petitioner contested Rajhans' 2.19% AD rate set in the investigation on brass rod from India (American Brass Rod Fair Trade Coalition v. U.S., CIT # 24-00119).
Importer Acquisition 362, doing business as Strategic Import Supply, filed a complaint at the Court of International Trade on Aug. 8 claiming CBP failed to provide the company with a "statement of reasons" for the denial of its protest concerning its passenger vehicle and light truck tires from China. The company said protest denial was improper because it centered on a message from the Commerce Department, which the importer wasn't given access to (Acquisition 362, LLC dba Strategic Import Supply v. U.S., CIT # 24-00149).
Three election voting machine and service provider company executives, along with a former chairman of the Philippines' Commission on Elections, were charged with bribing officials in the Philippines to retain business in the 2016 Philippines elections, DOJ announced. A federal grand jury in the Southern District of Florida returned an indictment against the four men Aug. 8, charging two of them with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and violating the FCPA.
Womenswear company Alexis will pay nearly $7.7 million to settle a whistleblower False Claims Act case, which alleged that the company underpaid customs duties on its apparel imports, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida announced Aug. 9.
Countervailing duty petitioners Bio-Lab, Innovative Water Care and Occidental Chemical Corp. challenged the Commerce Department's refusal to use adverse facts available against exporters Heze Huayi Chemical Co. and Juancheng Kangtai Chemical Co. in an administrative review of the CVD order on chlorinated isocyanurates from China (Bio-Lab v. United States, CIT # 24-00118).
U.S. export controls are blocking Huawei's access to evidence that it needs to prepare for its upcoming trial on racketeering, trade secret theft and other charges (see 2002130045), the Chinese technology company said in a court filing last week.
Importer Phoenix Metal Co. will appeal a June Court of International Trade decision sustaining CBP's finding that the company evaded the antidumping and countervailing duties on cast iron soil pipe from China by transshipping the pipe through Cambodia. In its decision, the court rejected Phoenix's due process claims, which faulted CBP for failing to notify the company that it was subject to an interim Enforce and Protect Act investigation (see 2406100027). The trade court said the importer failed to allege that it suffered specific-enough harm by being subject to the interim measures without adequate notice. According to the Aug. 9 notice of appeal, Phoenix will take the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Phoenix Metal v. U.S., CIT # 23-00048).