For dodging tariffs, L.A. importer gets 2 years in the pokey

Los Angeles businessman Sunil Jiwat Mirwani was sentenced to 27 months in prison on Monday, October 21, for dodging customs duties on more than $30 million in Chinese-made apparel.

Mirwani reportedly got San Diego-based businessmen to initiate shipments of merchandise from ports in China to Long Beach. The conspirators would claim the goods were classified as "in bond" — to be shipped to Mexico. Then they forged documents, and the blue jeans, shorts, and skirts went to L.A., where they were sold in U.S. stores. Then, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Mirwani laundered his profits through a complex web of international wire transfers.

Much of the money wound up in a Hong Kong company that Mirwani owns with his brother.