U.S. law enforcement authorities put an end to a decade-long trade fraud scheme involving China tires and a company based in Houston, Texas.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), a federal grand jury in Houston indicted 14 individuals and a company in connection with the tire trade fraud scheme.
Defendants conspired to avoid anti-dumping duties
Eight of the 14 individual defendants are facing criminal charges. They include Zheng “Miranda” Zhou of Missouri City, Kun “Bruce” Liu of Sugar Land, Qinghua Shirley” Song of Jurupa Valley, California; and China residents Yue “Joanna” Peng, Li “Cathy” Chen, Xin “Devin” Zhang, Shaohui “Jasper” Jia, and Deng “David” Yongqiang.
Both Zhou and Liu have been arrested and appeared in Houston federal court on Tuesday. The criminal indictment against them was unsealed at the time of their appearance in court.
The eight defendants mentioned above are also included in the related civil complaint filed in the U.S. Court of International Trade.
The six other individuals were indicted with civil charges including China Xiaozhen “Jenny” Zhang, Di “Terry” Wang, Liang “Leon” Yu, Lin “Leo” Zhang, Minglian “Bill” Li, and New Jersey resident Jinbing “David” Wang.
