Saturday, August 13, 2022

$3.64 Million Settlement Aagainst Menswear Company for Underpaying Customs Duties

On August 11, 2022, Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, AnnMarie Highsmith, Executive Assistant Commissioner for U.S. Customs and Border Protection's ("CBP") Office of Trade, and Francis Russo, Director, CBP Field Operations New York, announced that the United States has filed and settled a civil lawsuit against Luchiano Visconti Loutie LLC d/b/a Luchiano Visconti ("LUCHIANO VISCONTI"), a New York-based company that imports and sells men’s apparel to retailers, as well as its manager, SASHA HOURIZADEH ("HOURIZADEH"). The settlement resolves claims that LUCHIANO VISCONTI and HOURIZADEH (collectively, "Defendants") defrauded the United States by falsely underreporting to CBP the value of apparel imported from overseas in order to avoid paying customs duties owed on the goods.

LUCHIANO VISCONTI did not pay over $1.8 million in customs duties that it was obligated to pay on the menswear.

In connection with the filing of the lawsuit and settlement, the Government joined a whistleblower lawsuit that had previously been filed under seal pursuant to the False Claims Act. The government has not announced how much of the fine will go to the whisteblower.

Read more HERE.

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