CAFC Decision in Double Invoicing Case
The Federal Circuit has issued a decision on the merits in United States v. Inn Foods, Inc. There had been a previous decision on jurisdiction, which was followed by a trial at the Court of International Trade and then this appeal on the substance. The initial issue is whether Inn Foods' invoicing practice amounts to fraud. Inn Foods had been receiving an invoice from growers in Mexico that had a relatively low sales prices on it. Subsequent to entry, Inn Foods created a second invoice at something more similar to market value, retaining the original invoice number, and paid at that higher amount. Superficially, this looks like a standard-issue double-invoicing scheme. But, in the age of reconciliation, is it really more like a provisional pricing mechanism? It might have been possible to make that argument had Inn Foods adjusted its entries accordingly. It didn't and the loss of revenue was approximately $624,000. Based on testimony and evidence indicating both knowl
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