The US Department of Justice has settled with a New York-headquartered global plastic resin distributor MGI International for falsifying customs declarations to avoid paying duties as a former company executive pleads guilty for his role in the scheme.
MGI International and two of its subsidiaries – Global Plastics and Marco Polo International – voluntarily self-disclosed alleged trade fraud relating to imports from China, repaid millions of dollars in evaded duties and fully cooperated with the department, according to an 18 December announcement by the DOJ. The day prior, MGI’s former chief operating officer, David Guimond, pleaded guilty to conspiring to smuggle goods into the US.
“The department will hold to account individuals and corporations who lie to evade tariffs and duties,” Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in the release. “This resolution makes clear what the incentives for corporations are to voluntarily self-disclose and remediate identified criminal conduct.”
The agreement marks the Criminal Division’s first trade fraud corporate resolution and individual guilty plea, according to a person familiar with the matter. It’s also the first resolution from the department’s new Trade Fraud Task Force (TFTF).
The cross-agency task force was launched in August with the goal of bringing “robust enforcement against importers and other parties who seek to defraud the United States”, according to an announcement. The DOJ said the task force “will augment the existing coordination mechanisms within the Department of Justice and leverage expertise from both the Civil and Criminal Divisions, as well as the Department of Homeland Security”.
“It is a statement by the TFTF that they’re going to be active in this space,” said Mona Patel of Covington in Boston. “They’ve been saying that, but I think with this announcement, they’re showing that.”
Lawyers previously told GIR that a November tariff fraud settlement between the DOJ and Michigan audio electronics company Harman International shows the department is intensifying tariff fraud enforcement.
“It does seem like they’re demonstrating that they’re going to bring these cases against corporations,” Patel said, adding that trade fraud cases more often concern individuals.
Deborah Curtis of Arnold & Porter, who is representing Guimond, said that he “takes these matters seriously and has chosen to cooperate fully with the United States in this emerging area of criminal enforcement.”
“This resolution reflects Mr. Guimond's desire to move forward responsibly and constructively. He remains committed to operating his businesses transparently and lawfully, and to continuing to contribute positively to the U.S. economy and workforce,” Curtis said of the New Hampshire small business owner.
MGI was granted a declination partially because of its remediation – which included firing and taking disciplinary actions against employees involved in the scheme – and partially because the company has already repaid the tariffs it evaded, according to the DOJ.
In July, subsidiaries Global Plastics and Marco Polo agreed to pay $6.8 million to resolve their civil liability under the False Claims Act for knowingly failing to pay customs duties, the DOJ said. MGI had disclosed the failures in 2024 and was granted credit for cooperating with the government.
Patel said that the new criminal resolution is “reflective of a desire by the TFTF to show that they are doing what they said they were going to do, which is bring different parts of the department together to pursue these cases”.
Part of the TFTF’s goal is to bring civil and criminal attorneys at the DOJ together to cooperate and share information, according to Patel. She added that it’s noteworthy that the matter began as a civil one under Former President Joe Biden’s administration and ended up as a criminal matter under President Donald Trump’s administration.
The scheme began in 2021 after a US weather event disrupted the domestic plastic resin market, according to court filings accompanying Guimond’s plea agreement. According to industry reports, a 2021 Texas ice storm overloaded the state’s power grid, slowing plastic production. Hurricane Ida made matters worse, hitting resin production.
As a result, Global Plastics and Marco Polo sourced from other countries, including China. The imports would have been subject to an additional 25% duty rate.
In 2021, Guimond texted vice presidents at both subsidiaries, including the vice president of operations, about where to store plastic resin from China, court filings show. The vice president of operations is unnamed in the complaint, but a LinkedIn profile suggests Michael Aquino held the role. He did not respond to a request for comment.
Guimond told employees to put Taiwan as the country of origin on a manufacturer’s affidavit to a customs broker and to repackage plastic resin from bags to boxes to be shipped through Canada for importation into the US “to conceal the resin’s country of origin was China”, according to court filings.
The former executive could face up to five years in prison. His lawyer and MGI did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Counsel to David Guimond
Arnold & Porter
Deborah Curtis in Washington, DC
McLane Middleton
Peter Anderson in Manchester
For the DOJ
Trial Attorneys Jennifer Bilinkas in Washington, DC and Siji Moore in Nashville and Assistant US Attorney Yasir Sadat in Concord