Mosaic Tile Importer, Owner Plead Guilty to Avoiding Over $1M in AD/CVD
Mosaic tile importer Akua Mosaics and its president, Kenneth Fleming, pleaded guilty on March 19 to conspiring to smuggle Chinese-made porcelain mosaic tiles into the U.S., the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Puerto Rico announced.
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DOJ said Akua Mosaics and Fleming smuggled the tiles from 2021 to June 2022 by falsely declaring to CBP that the goods were made in Malaysia to avoid antidumping and countervailing duties of 330.69% and 358.81%, respectively, along with 25% Section 301 duties. Akua Mosaics and Fleming also conspired with Chinese citizen Shuyi Mo to place "Made in Malaysia" labels on the shipments after they were sent from China to Malaysia.
After the labels were applied, they were sent to Puerto Rico, leading to over $1 million in unpaid duties. Mo was arrested in April 2023 in California and, after pleading guilty, was removed from the U.S. after being sentenced to four months of time served. DOJ said Fleming faces a maximum five-year prison stint and three-year supervised release period, and that both Fleming and Akua Mosaics face a $250,000 fine and $1.09 million restitution payment.
Along with DOJ, the CBP San Juan Field Office and Homeland Security Investigations' San Juan Global Trade Investigations Group worked on the case.