Six Southern California companies linked to Chinese billionaire Liu Zhongtian were fined $1.83 billion on Monday, April 11. They were fined for conspiring to defraud the US through a scheme in which massive amounts of aluminium were disguised as "pallets" to avoid paying $1.8 billion in customs duties exported to the US. They were further "sold" to fraudulently inflate a China-based company's revenues and deceive investors around the world.
Perfectus Aluminum Inc. and one of its subsidiaries, as well as four southern California-based warehouses where the aluminium was stored all controlled by Liu were sentenced to pay the fine by US District Judge R Gary Klausner. The firms were also sentenced to five years of probation by the judge.
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According to the statement, China Zhongwang Holdings Ltd, Asia's biggest producer of aluminium extrusions, and Liu, the company's former president and chairman, were charged in 2019 but have yet to appear in a US court to face the allegations.
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