Bay Area Importer Xin Mian Pan, Two Others and Three Companies Indicted in $109 Million Customs Duty Evasion Scheme
On December 18, 2025, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California announced that a federal grand jury has indicted Bay Area building-materials importer Xin Mian Pan, also known as Henry Pan, two other individuals and three companies, charging them with conspiring to evade more than $109 million in antidumping duties, countervailing duties and other duties through transshipment, shell companies and other techniques used to import Chinese-made building products. Pan was arrested on December 17 and made his initial appearance in federal court in San Francisco on December 18; he is currently in federal custody.
The other defendants are Hua Liang Xie, also known as Nolan Xie, 61, of South San Francisco; Jinhua Wang, also known as Johnson Wang, 53, a national of China; Pan's Bay Area companies Uni-Tile & Marble Inc. and Uni-Stone & Cabinet Inc.; and Wang's China-based freight forwarding company, Shenzhen Top & Profit International Forwarding Co. Ltd. Pan is 63 and lives in San Francisco. The indictment was filed on December 17, 2025, and unsealed on December 18.
According to the indictment, from September 2018 through August 2023, the defendants shipped Chinese-made quartz surface products, wooden cabinets and vanities, and ceramic tiles first to Malaysia and then from Malaysia to the Port of Oakland, falsely telling U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) that the goods had been manufactured in Malaysia. They also allegedly used shell companies falsely listed on entry documents as the U.S. importer and recipient, misclassified products, and had Xie, a licensed customs broker, file false entry summaries. In total, the defendants allegedly imported approximately 520 shipments under the scheme, avoiding more than $109 million in duties. The U.S. Department of Commerce had set combined antidumping and countervailing duty rates of 341.47 percent on Chinese quartz surface products, 251.64 percent on wooden cabinets and vanities, and 689.50 percent on ceramic tiles.
The defendants are charged with conspiracy, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, smuggling, and entry of goods by means of false statements; Pan and the two Bay Area companies are additionally charged with international money laundering. If convicted, they face up to five years in prison for each conspiracy count, 20 years for each wire fraud and smuggling count, two years for each false-statement entry count, and 20 years for each international money laundering count. CBP has also issued an approximately $222.5 million pre-penalty notice to Uni-Tile and Pan, jointly and severally, tentatively finding a violation of 19 U.S.C. § 1592.
United States Attorney Craig H. Missakian said the defendants are charged with evading customs duties intended to protect U.S. manufacturers and American jobs, cheating the United States out of hundreds of millions of dollars and harming honest businesses. Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brenna Jenny of the Justice Department's Civil Division said evading tariffs is not a paperwork violation and that the Department, through its Trade Fraud Task Force, will impose significant penalties. Tatum King, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in San Francisco, said HSI will continue working with CBP and other partners. The case was investigated by HSI and CBP and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christiaan Highsmith, Aseem Padukone and Kelsey Davidson. Pan was 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.
Related: DOJ Sues Uni-Tile and CEO Xin Mian Pan in $290 Million Customs Fraud Case over 503 Shipments
Source: 加州北区联邦检察官办公室
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：涉案货物入境的奥克兰港集装箱码头。CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: The container terminal at the Port of Oakland, where the goods in this case entered the United States. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
- 2025-12-18Bay Area Importer Xin Mian Pan, Two Others and Three Companies Indicted in $109 Million Customs Duty Evasion SchemeThis story
- 2026-10-07DOJ Sues Uni-Tile and CEO Xin Mian Pan in $290 Million Customs Fraud Case over 503 Shipments
