Six Southern California companies convicted of scheming to avoid payment of $1.8 billion in duties on imported Chinese aluminum
August 23, 2021 — A federal jury today found six corporate entities guilty of participating in a wide-ranging conspiracy to defraud the United States via a wire-and-customs fraud scheme in which huge amounts of aluminum – disguised as “pallets” to avoid $1.8 billion in customs duties – were exported to the United States and were “sold” to fraudulently inflate a China-based company’s revenues and deceive investors worldwide.
Source: irs.gov