The U.S. voluntarily dismissed its customs penalty appeal brought against surety firm American Home Assurance Co., according to an April 17 joint stipulation of voluntarily dismissal filed at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (United States v. American Home Assurance Co., Fed. Cir. # 24-1069).
Parties in a customs case on the classification of human interface controllers will tell the Court of International Trade by May 20 if they will proceed with the case under "summary judgment motions or request for a trial," Judge Timothy Stanceu said in an April 16 order, noting that a status conference won't be held April 19 as originally planned. Importer Robert Bosch brought suit in 2020 to contest CBP's classification of the controllers under Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading 8473.70.9900, dutiable at 2.6% (see 2303090055) (Robert Bosch v. U.S., CIT # 20-00028).
The Court of International Trade on April 17 said that after the Commerce Department decided to continue an antidumping duty investigation on Mexican tomatoes initially paused in 1996, it must use the original investigation period, 1995-96, and not the later period of 2018-19. Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves ruled that the statute and congressional intent are clear that when Commerce resumes a suspended AD investigation, it must stick with the original investigation period.
The Ukraine High Anti-Corruption Court on April 10 upheld the Ministry of Justice's bid to impose sanctions and confiscate the assets of former Minister of Education and Science Dmytro Tabachnyk, according to an unofficial translation. The court noted that Tabachnyk is in the "temporarily occupied territories" and helps support the creation and functioning of the occupying administrations. The Ukrainian government sought to confiscate five land plots, a residential building, half a share of an apartment and monetary assets from the former minister. Ukraine's enforcement of its sanctions regime takes the form of asset freezes, the seizure of property and criminal sanctions, according to a blog post from global law firm Baker McKenzie. Ukraine passed legislation last year allowing for the "expropriation of property of" sanctioned parties.
The Cyprus Bar Association (CBA) last week raided a lawyer's lobbying firm offices as part of an investigation into "suspected fictitious transactions," Cyprus newspaper Phileleftheros reported. The investigation centered on Finsol, a firm that provides services to Santinomo, which reportedly holds shares in Intellexa AE -- an entity that's part of U.S.-sanctioned spyware firm Intellexa. The suspicious transactions began "shortly after US sanctions were imposed on entities of the Intellexa group," the newspaper's report said. A Greek lawyer registered with CBA owns Finsol. The CBA's compliance and oversight department is conducting the investigation and, upon its conclusion, will send a report to the association's administrative council. The council will decide whether "disciplinary measures will be taken or, more importantly, whether the case will be referred to the police for criminal investigation," Phileleftheros reported.
Ross Roggio of Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, was sentenced on April 15 to 70 years in prison for torturing an Estonian citizen in 2015 in Iraq and for exporting weapons parts and related services to Iraq, DOJ announced. Roggio was convicted in May of "exporting weapons parts and services to Iraq" without approval, shipping "weapons tools to Iraq," smuggling, wire fraud and money laundering. He sent firearms parts and tools and "illegally trained foreign persons in the operation, assembly, and manufacturing of the M4 automatic rifle," DOJ said.
A former North Korean official serving in Thailand, Myong Ho Ri, was charged with conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions, bank fraud and money laundering, DOJ announced.
The International Trade Commission on April 16 continued to stick by its decision that imports of methionine from Spain had "significant price effects on prices for the domestic like product," part of its finding in an antidumping duty investigation that the imports of the product injured U.S. industry. In remand results submitted to the Court of International Trade, the commission said it considered the "factual accuracy of the volume of lost sales," as instructed by the court, and came to the same conclusion (Adisseo Espana v. United States, CIT # 21-00562).
The Court of International Trade in an opinion made public April 16 sent back the Commerce Department's use of adverse facts available against exporter Garg Tube Exports in the 2018-19 review of the antidumping duty order on welded carbon steel standard pipes and tubes from India.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative reappointed Devin Sikes, counsel for Akin Gump, to the U.S. roster for antidumping and countervailing duty disputes stemming from USMCA Chapter 10, the firm announced. The term -- Sikes' fifth on the U.S. roster -- expires March 31, 2025.