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Three international trade companies, the President of the San Diego Customs Brokers Association, and seven others face federal charges after investigators uncovered a multi-million dollar import fraud scheme in Southern California.

Looking to evade taxes, customs duties and other charges, the fraud ring illegally imported over $100 million of goods, according to the Department of Justice. The group allegedly exploited the in-bond import process, which allows goods intended for sale in other countries to pass through American ports duty-free. San Diego Customs Brokers Association President, Gerardo Chavez, created fake documents claiming that the imports were destined for Mexico. He also created false database entries to back up the paperwork.

After claiming the goods as en-route to Mexico, the group got truck drivers to take the goods to warehouses all over Southern California. From there, the goods (including clothing from China and cigarettes produced in India) were shipped all over the U.S.

“The charges announced…underscores our commitment to ensure that no one exploits the import process for personal gain,” said Laura E. Duffy, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California. “Not only does such illegal conduct present a significant danger to the American people, but it deprives law abiding companies of a level playing field resulting in the potential loss of billions of dollars in revenue.”

The Department of Justice approximates that the scheme may have deprived California of over $10 million in customs duties, taxes and other revenue. Even more disconcerting is the claim that some vegetable shipments handled by the group were contaminated with salmonella.

Two of Chavez’s companies, Tecate Logistics LLC and International Trade Consultants LLC, were implicated in the scheme, as well as British citizen Sunil Mirwani and his company M Trade Inc. Additionally, several employees and agents of wholesalers, customs brokers and transport companies have been charged with knowingly aiding the conspiracy.

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Is your company struggling with the task of installing an Export Compliance Program (ECP)? We can help! This Wednesday, July 25, catch the third installment of Amber Road’s export compliance webinar series. Broadcasting live at 2pm EST, this webinar will show you how Export On-Demand can help with Shipment Screening & Documentation.

The first two webinars in the series covered the first two steps a company should take when building an ECP: Restricted Party Screening and Product Classification. Once centralized data management and RPS programs have been established, companies can use Export On-Demand to:

• Process an order
• Create pre-mapped shipping documents
• File with the U.S. Census Bureau’s Automated Export System (AES)
• Screen shipments to manage and react to changes in the supply chain in a timely manner

Webinar Presenters:

• Steve Keighley, Solutions Consultant, Amber Road
• Scott Byrnes, VP of Marketing, Amber Road

Don’t miss the final webinar of the series. Register today!
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Part Three: Shipment Screening & Documentation

The third and final webinar in this series will be held on Friday, November 18^th at 2:00pm EST and will review Shipment Screening & Documentation, the final step in building an Export Compliance Program.

During this webinar, we will discuss key best practices related to automating your export compliance process, including:

• The importance of transactional screening and why it is a necessary requirement in any compliance program
• How managing product compliance details can help validate the data used on export documentation and reduce delays at the border
• How to leverage the data from the export order to automatically determine and create key export documents and file directly with AES

Speakers will include:
Suzanne Richer, President, Customs & Trade Solutions, Inc.
Sanjeev Williams, Product Manager, Amber Road (formerly Management Dynamics)

Register today and learn how you can take the final step in establishing an Export Compliance Program!
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Part Three: Shipment Screening & Documentation

Join Customs & Trade Solutions, Inc. and Management Dynamics for a complimentary three-part Export Compliance Webinar Series, which will address the three key steps of any Export Compliance Program (ECP): Restricted Party Screening, Product Classification, and Shipment Screening and Documentation.

The third and final webinar in this series will be held on Friday, November 18^th at 2:00pm EST and will review Shipment Screening and Documentation, the final step in building an export compliance program.

During this webinar, we will discuss key best practices related to automating your export compliance process, including:

• The importance of transactional screening and why it is a necessary requirement in any compliance program
• How managing product compliance details can help validate the data used on export documentation and reduce delays at the border
• How to leverage the data from the export order to automatically determine and create key export documents, and file directly with AES

Speakers will include:
Suzanne Richer, President, Customs & Trade Solutions, Inc.
Sanjeev Williams, Product Manager, Management Dynamics

Join us to learn how you can take the next step in establishing an Export Compliance Program!
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