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.

Also, included as a defendant in the civil complaint is the Houston-based company Winland International Inc., doing business as Super Tire Inc.

Prosecutors alleged that the defendants conspired so that Winland could avoid anti-dumping duties associated with off-the-road (OTR) and light vehicle and truck (LVT) tires from China.

The defendants allegedly obtained falsified invoices and entry records of Chinese tire companies that were subject to a lower duty rate than the actual manufacturers of these tires. They submitted these fraudulent records to U.S. Customs officials when importing tires into the United States. As a result, Winland avoided paying higher duty rates.

According to the indictment, the value of these tires is more than $20.9 million. The defendant’s trade fraud scheme deprived the United States of more than $6.5 million in import duties.

“China and its industries want to rob, replicate, and replace American-made goods and technology. Illegally importing and dumping these goods is one way to systemically weaken American competitors. Whether direct espionage by the Chinese government or trade fraud like in this case, we will continue to investigate and prosecute every case we can,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Patrick for the Southern District of Texas.

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