On August 19, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that Allied Stone Inc. (Allied Stone) and its president, Jia “Jerry” Lim, agreed to pay $12.4 million in settlement to resolve allegations that the company violated the False Claims Act (FCA) by evading, or conspiring to evade, antidumping and countervailing duties owed on quartz surface products imported from China. Allied Stone is a Dallas-based countertop and cabinetry supplier. According to the DOJ, Allied Stone misrepresented Chinese quartz surface products as other merchandise subject to lesser duties to avoid the applicable antidumping and countervailing duties. The company also allegedly failed to declare and pay, and failed to ensure that others were declaring and paying, applicable duties owed to the U.S. on entries of its Chinese quartz surface products.
Importers that bring goods into the U.S. must declare, among other things, the country of origin, value, applicable duties, and the amount of duties related to the goods. U.S. Customs and Border Protection is responsible for collecting applicable duties, like antidumping and countervailing duties assessed by the Department of Commerce. Antidumping duties allow the U.S. to stop foreign companies from “dumping” products into U.S. markets at prices below their cost, while countervailing duties offset foreign government subsidies. Both antidumping and countervailing duties applied to Alliance Stone’s quartz products at the center of DOJ’s investigation...
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