By The Epoch Times | Created at 2026-10-09 10:52:37 | Updated at 2026-10-09 11:46:31
1 hour ago
The U.S. Department of Justice is seeking approximately $290 million in unpaid customs duties and fraud penalties from a California building-materials importer and its chief executive over an alleged scheme to evade U.S. tariffs on Chinese-made kitchen cabinets, countertops, and tiles.
The civil complaint, filed Sept. 28 in the U.S. Court of International Trade and announced Oct. 7, accuses Uni-Tile & Marble Inc. and CEO Xin Mian Pan of routing Chinese goods through Malaysia, understating their value on customs declarations, and misidentifying products to reduce import duties.
The complaint covers 503 customs entries from September 2018 through August 2023. It seeks approximately $67.9 million in unpaid duties and $222.5 million in fraud penalties, plus interest.
In one shipment examined by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), inspectors found stone slabs carrying “Made in China” stickers, although the goods had been declared as Malaysian imports.
Inspectors also found cabinet boxes bearing Uni-Tile & Marble’s business addresses, although customs paperwork named Green Mountains Trading, a company the government alleges was a shell, as both the importer and recipient.
CBP issued a formal investigation notice concerning Uni-Tile & Marble’s cabinet imports in March 2022. The government alleges that shell companies began replacing Uni-Tile & Marble on import documents around that time.
Shell Companies
According to the complaint, Pan and Uni-Tile & Marble used five U.S.-registered shell companies to import Chinese merchandise, covering about 130 customs entries and one attempted entry. The government alleges that the companies concealed Uni-Tile & Marble’s involvement while avoiding import duties.
One was Green Mountains Trading, registered to a house in suburban Denver. It was listed as the importer for 19 entries and one attempted shipment. In the shipment examined by CBP, customs paperwork described stone slabs as “Articles of Glass,” but laboratory testing identified a sample as primarily quartz, which would face a higher import duty.
Two other companies—Jos Materials in Colorado and Uncle John Granite and Marble in California—were allegedly registered using stolen identities. They appeared on customs paperwork for 50 and 24 entries, respectively.
In a February 2023 inspection involving Jos Materials, CBP found boxes bearing Uni-Tile & Marble’s Hayward, California, address. According to the complaint, surveillance subsequently confirmed that the shipment was delivered to Uni-Tile & Marble.
The government also cites discrepancies between declared shipment values and Uni-Tile & Marble’s own business records.
In one entry, the importer declared merchandise worth $38,730. Uni-Tile & Marble’s container records valued the goods at $91,213, according to the complaint, which also identified quartz products that had not been properly declared.
CBP began investigating Uni-Tile & Marble and five other U.S. importers in December 2021 over avoiding duties on Chinese wooden cabinets shipped through Malaysia. In October 2022, the agency determined that the six importers had evaded antidumping and countervailing duties. That administrative finding is separate from the civil fraud allegations now before the trade court.
Civil Lawsuit Follows Criminal Charges
The new lawsuit follows a separate federal criminal prosecution announced in December 2025.
In that case, federal prosecutors charged Pan, Uni-Tile & Marble, customs broker Hua Liang “Nolan” Xie, Chinese national Jinhua “Johnson” Wang, and three companies in connection with an alleged scheme involving approximately 520 shipments and more than $109 million in avoided customs duties.
The charges included conspiracy, wire fraud, smuggling, and customs offenses. Pan and his two companies, Uni-Tile & Marble and Uni-Stone & Cabinet, also faced international money laundering charges.
The Epoch Times sought comment from Pan and Uni-Tile & Marble’s counsel and clarification from the Justice Department on the differing financial figures and the criminal case. Neither responded by publication time.
