Texas Resident Pleads Guilty to Falsely Declaring Chinese Goods Were Made in US
Grand Prairie, Texas, resident Suhaib Allababidi pleaded guilty Nov. 30 to lying to the government about the origin of his company's products, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Texas announced. The defendant and his company, 2M Solutions, both pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. The company also pleaded guilty to one count of filing false or misleading export information.
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2M provides security cameras, solar-powered light towers, digital video recorders and other devices to U.S. government agencies, claiming the goods were made in the U.S. when in fact they were made in China. Allababidi told the agencies that 2M was a U.S. manufacturer, when in reality the company "did little to no manufacturing but instead regularly" bought goods from Chinese firms, replacing labels stating the goods' country of origin with ones including the words "Made in the USA."
The company was able to get contracts subject to the Buy America Act -- a law that bars federal agencies from buying goods made outside the U.S. -- the U.S. Attorney's Office said. 2M further violated export laws by submitting incorrect information to the Automated Export System. The company lied about the description and end users of exported items, falsely declaring that no export license was needed for the shipments. The defendant faces a maximum of five years in prison, while the company faces fines of up to $1 million or double the amount of the concerned property, whichever is greater.