Middlesex County Company Admits Undervaluing Gold Jewelry to Evade Customs Duties

NEWARK, N.J. – A Middlesex County, New Jersey, company and two individuals who own or control the business admitted that they evaded U.S. customs duties on gold jewelry imported into the United States, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced today.  

According to the admissions and contentions of the United States in the settlement agreement:

21st Millennium Inc. is a company based in Iselin, New Jersey, that buys and sells gold jewelry and is owned or controlled by Iqbal Virani and Aqib Virani. From Jan. 1, 2017, through March 31, 2020, 21st Millennium was the importer of record on more than 80 customs entries, each of which consisted of jewelry manufactured in foreign countries and imported into the United States. 21st Millennium was responsible for making truthful and accurate disclosures to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection, concerning the total value of the merchandise that it imported into the United States. The Viranis caused 21st Millennium to provide the company’s customs broker with commercial invoices that failed to set forth the total value of the jewelry. By undervaluing the merchandise, 21st Millennium evaded paying $401,852 in customs duties that should have been paid. Under the settlement agreement, 21M and the Viranis agreed to pay a total of $1 million to the United States. 

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents with the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Ivan J. Arvelo in New York, with the investigation leading to the settlement.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney David V. Simunovich of the Health Care Fraud Unit in Newark.