Jacob Kopnick

Javier Aguilar of Houston, former trader at energy trading firm Vitol, pleaded guilty Aug. 21 to conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and taking part in interstate and foreign commerce to distribute bribery proceeds, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York announced. Aguilar paid bribes to officials at the procurement wing of PEMEX, a Mexican state-owned oil company.

Importer Seneca Foods Corp. filed a notice of supplemental authority at the Court of International Trade on Aug. 21, claiming that a recent Section 232 exclusion request denial from the Commerce Department is relevant to the resolution of its case (Seneca Foods Corp. v. U.S., CIT # 22-00243).

Importer Pitts Enterprises, doing business as Dorsey Intermodal, told the Court of International Trade that the Commerce Department illicitly turned the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on Chinese chassis and subassemblies thereof into orders covering parts of chassis. Filing a motion for judgment on Aug. 21, Dorsey said the entry of Chinese components in "separate, independent shipments" are "straightforwardly" not covered "unassembled subassemblies" (Pitts Enterprises v. United States, CIT # 24-00030).

U.S. importer CME Acquisitions argued that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit's recent decision in PrimeSource Building Products v. U.S. didn't overrule the appellate court's decision in Yangzhou Bestpak Gifts & Crafts Co. v. U.S. regarding how the Commerce Department sets the non-selected respondents' antidumping duty rate (CME Acquisitions v. United States, CIT # 24-00032).

The Court of International Trade on Aug. 21 allowed the U.S. to serve German paper exporter Koehler through its U.S. counsel in a suit seeking over $193 million in unpaid antidumping duties and interest from the company. Judge Gary Katzmann said the court's rules allow for such service and that this type of service doesn't disturb international comity or Koehler's due process rights.

Comoros officially joined the World Trade Organization on Aug. 21, becoming the 165th member of the trade body after 17 years of accession talks, the WTO announced. Twenty-two other nations are negotiating their WTO access, including eight other African countries. Comoros also accepted the fisheries subsidies agreement, bringing the total number of countries that have accepted the deal to 82.

The following lawsuit was recently filed at the Court of International Trade:

The Court of International Trade in an Aug. 15 decision made public Aug. 20 rejected the Commerce Department's determination that some of exporter Megaa Moda's home market sales weren't made "for consumption" in that market. Judge Thomas Aquilino said Commerce must "diligently examine the circumstances surrounding a transaction," and can't simply use a prior CIT decision to say that the agency can't use the trade patterns of a company's customers to find that the sales aren't "for consumption" in the home market.

Venezuela citizen George Semerene Quintero pleaded guilty Aug. 20 to conspiring to evade U.S. sanctions on Petroleos de Venezuela (PdVSA), the Venezuelan state-owned oil company where he worked, DOJ announced.

Importers Wabtec Corp. and Strato filed a scathing motion for judgment on Aug. 19 contesting the International Trade Commission's affirmative injury determination on freight rail couplers from China. The companies contested the commission's decision to rule on the issue at all, seeing as the proceeding was brought just weeks after the commission found that freight rail couplers from China didn't injure the U.S. market (Wabtec Corp. v. United States, CIT # 23-00157).