Executive at California Clothing Importer Sentenced for Undervaluing Chinese Imports

Mohamed Daoud Ghacham, executive at California-based clothing wholesale company Ghacham Inc., was sentenced to 48 months in prison for undervaluing garment imports to avoid paying customs duties, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California announced Feb. 23. In addition, the Bell, California, resident will pay close to $6.4 million in restitution after pleading guilty in December 2022 to conspiracy to "pass false and fraudulent papers through a customhouse."

Ghacham Inc., under the Platini brand, imported clothes from China and sent false invoices to CBP, which undervalued the imports, allowing tariffs to be avoided on the goods. The Chinese suppliers would fill out two invoices -- one with the actual price paid and a false one with an "understated price," the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

From July 2011 to February 2021, the importer undervalued goods by over $32 million, failing to pay nearly $6.4 million in customs duties. Ghacham pleaded guilty to filing the false invoices and to conspiracy to engage in transactions in properties of a "specially designated narcotics trafficker" under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act for doing business with designated narcotics trafficker Maria Tiburcia Cazarez Perez. Ghacham Inc. was fined $4 million for working with the trafficker in December, though Mohamed Ghacham was not charged in connection with this scheme.