CIT Allows Second Try in $3.5 Million Penalty Case to Proceed

A nearly $3.5 million penalty case against an apparel importer will proceed, after the Court of International Trade on July 14 denied the importer’s bid to dismiss a second attempt by the government to collect. CIT had dismissed the government’s case in November because it did not allege with enough specificity the connection between Greenlight Organic’s owner, Sonny Aulakh, and the purported misclassification and double invoicing schemes that led CBP to assess $3,232,032 for customs fraud plus $238,516.56 in unpaid duties on both Greenlight and Aulakh (see 1911260047). It did allow the government to file another complaint to add more information. This time, additional information on the alleged schemes and their participants included in the second complaint were enough to get the case over the hump so it can progress to more detailed arguments, CIT said.

(United States v. Greenlight Organic, Inc., Slip Op. 20-100, CIT #17-00031, Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves. Attorneys: William Kanellis for plaintiff U.S. government; Angela Santos of Grunfeld Desiderio for defendant Parambir Singh “Sonny” Aulakh.)