US Denies Florida Man's Bid to Amend JPO in Customs Penalty Suit

The Court of International Trade in a Jan. 8 text-only order denied Florida man Zhe "John" Liu's motion to amend the protective order in a customs penalty case against Liu and his company GL Paper Distribution. The U.S. said the motion was another attempt to get around the limits of discovery in a separate criminal proceeding against Liu (United States v. Zhe "John" Liu, CIT # 22-00215).

The court said in the order that the "government has confirmed that to the extent any documents produced in discovery are confidential, said documents may be shared with Mr. Liu and counsel in this case." The court won't amend the protective order to require the U.S. to label documents already produced as "confidential or non-confidential," since the case is stayed pending resolution of the criminal case. The order only limits access to documents obtained through actions in this case, the court noted, adding that documents obtained "by other means are not within its purview."

In the case, the U.S. alleged that Liu used companies to import steel wire hangers that were given false countries of origin to avoid customs duties. Previously, Liu filed a motion to amend the protective order to give his criminal counsel access to the record in the civil customs penalty case. That motion was denied, prompting the motion to amend (see 2401050061).