Bay Area Businessmen, Chinese National, And Three Companies Charged With Scheme To Evade Millions In Customs Duties

SAN FRANCISCO – A federal grand jury has indicted Xin Mian Pan (a/k/a “Henry Pan”), Hua Liang Xie (a/k/a “Nolan Xie”), Jinhua Wang (a/k/a “Johnson Wang”), Uni-Tile & Marble, Inc., Uni-Stone & Cabinet, Inc., and Shenzhen Top & Profit International Forwarding Co. Ltd. on charges arising from a scheme to evade more than $109 million in anti-dumping duties, countervailing duties, and other duties imposed on quartz surface products, wooden cabinets and vanities, and ceramic tiles manufactured in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and imported into the United States.  Pan was arrested yesterday and made his initial appearance in federal district court today.  

The indictment filed December 17, 2025, and unsealed today charges Pan, 63, of San Francisco; Xie, 61, of South San Francisco; Wang, 53, a PRC national; Pan’s Bay Area companies, Uni-Tile & Marble and Uni-Stone & Cabinet; and Wang’s PRC-based company, Top & Profit, with conspiracy, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, smuggling, and entry of goods by means of false statements.  Pan, Uni-Tile & Marble, and Uni-Stone & Cabinet are additionally charged with international money laundering.

“Defendants are charged with evading customs duties intended to protect U.S. manufacturers and American jobs.  The alleged scheme cheated the United States out of hundreds of millions of dollars in customs duties and harmed honest businesses that play by the rules,” said United States Attorney Craig H. Missakian.  “Companies that think they can beat the system should be on notice that they will be investigated and held accountable.”

“Evading tariffs and customs duties is not a paperwork violation,” said Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brenna Jenny for the Justice Department’s Civil Division.  “Today’s charges reflect the Department’s commitment, through its Trade Fraud Task Force, to impose significant penalties on those who flout U.S. trade laws.”

“Today’s indictment demonstrates our unwavering commitment to holding accountable those who seek to undermine the integrity of our financial and trade systems,” said Tatum King, Special Agent in Charge, HSI San Francisco.  “The charges of conspiracy, wire fraud, smuggling, entry of goods by means of false statements, and international money laundering reflect the seriousness of the alleged criminal conduct.  We will continue to work with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and other partner agencies to ensure that those who attempt to profit through deception and illegal activity are brought to justice.”

According to the indictment, the U.S. Department of Commerce imposes duties, including anti-dumping duties and countervailing duties, on certain foreign imports.  Antidumping duties (AD) provided relief to domestic industries that had been, or were threatened with, material injury caused by imported goods sold in the U.S. market at prices that were shown to be less than fair market value.  Countervailing duties (CVD) gave similar relief to domestic industries that had been, or were threatened with, material injury caused by imported goods that had been found to have received significant foreign government subsidies and could therefore be sold at lower prices than similar goods produced in the United States.  These unfair trade practices historically caused significant harm to U.S. manufacturers, resulting in large-scale layoffs of employees and the demise of many U.S.-based manufacturing industries.  When imposed together on certain merchandise, AD/CVD rates are described as a “combination rate.”

Over the 2018 to 2020 time period, the Department of Commerce determined that quartz surface products, wooden cabinets and vanities, and ceramic tiles manufactured in the PRC were being sold in the United States at less than fair market value.  As a result, the United States imposed a combination rate of 341.47 percent on quartz surface products imported from the PRC, a combination rate of 251.64 percent on wooden cabinets and vanities imported from the PRC, and a combination rate of 689.50 percent on ceramic tiles imported from the PRC.

The indictment alleges that beginning no later than September 2018 and continuing through August 2023, defendants devised a scheme to avoid paying the combination rate and other customs duties to increase the profitability of Pan’s companies and to enrich Pan.  Pan controlled several companies, including Uni-Tile & Marble and Uni-Stone & Cabinet, that imported kitchen products such as quartz surface products, wooden cabinets and vanities, and ceramic tiles that were subject to the combination rate.  Pan and his co-conspirators utilized several techniques to avoid paying duties, including the transshipment of goods through Malaysia, the use of shell companies, and misclassifying imported products.

Wang and Top & Profit allegedly facilitated Pan’s efforts to avoid paying the combination rate by sending goods manufactured in the PRC to Malaysia, re-exporting those goods from Malaysia to the Port of Oakland, and falsely claiming to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) that the goods had been manufactured in Malaysia.  In addition, Pan utilized shell companies that were falsely listed on entry documents as being the U.S.-based importer and recipient of the goods when in fact the goods were destined for Pan’s companies, including Uni-Tile & Marble and Uni-Stone & Cabinet.  Defendants are also alleged to have misclassified products and submitted false documentation to CBP, including the filing of false entry summaries by Xie, a licensed customs broker.    

In total, Pan, Uni-Tile & Marble, Uni-Stone & Cabinet, and their co-conspirators allegedly imported approximately 520 shipments as part of the scheme, which allowed Pan’s companies to avoid paying more than $109 million in duties owed to the United States.

Further, CBP has simultaneously issued an approximately $222.5 million pre-penalty notice to Uni-Tile & Marble and Pan, jointly and severally, where CBP tentatively found that both Pan and Uni-Tile & Marble fraudulently entered goods by means of false statement in violation of 19 U.S.C. § 1592.    

Pan is currently in federal custody and is next scheduled to appear on December 19, 2025, for a detention hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas S. Hixson.

An indictment merely alleges that crimes have been committed, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. If convicted, the defendants face a maximum sentence of five years in prison for each count of conspiracy in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371; 20 years in prison for each count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1349, wire fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1343, and smuggling in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 545; two years in prison for each count of entry of goods by means of false statements in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 542; and 20 years in prison for each count of international money laundering in violation of 18 U.S.C. §1956(a)(2).  Any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.  

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christiaan Highsmith, Aseem Padukone, and Kelsey Davidson are prosecuting the case with the assistance of Kevin Costello.  The prosecution is the result of an investigation by HSI and CBP.  The civil penalty will be pursued by CBP in an administrative process and will be supported by Senior Trial Counsel Liridona Sinani of the Civil Division, Commercial Litigation Branch, National Courts Section and other Civil Division attorneys with the Trade Fraud Task Force.

Pan, Xie, Wang, et al. Filed Indictment