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FLORIDA RESIDENTS, COMPANIES CHARGED WITH ILLEGAL IMPORTATION OF VEHICLES
Release Date: 08/20/2001
Contact Information:
FOR RELEASE: MONDAY, AUGUST 20, 2001
FLORIDA RESIDENTS, COMPANIES CHARGED
WITH ILLEGAL IMPORTATION OF VEHICLES
Luke C. Hester 202-564-7818/hester.luke@epa.gov
Two companies and four residents in the Miami area were charged on August 2 with illegally importing automobiles that did not conform with federal environmental and safety standards. Individual Automobile Imports, Inc., Container Services International, Inc., Kai Stadler, Thomas Kahnt, Nicole G. Schmidt and Alp Eke allegedly devised and participated in a scheme to defraud the U.S. Customs Service, the U.S. EPA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration by importing foreign vehicles that did not meet American standards. Federal law allows non-standard vehicles to be brought into the United States for up to one year if they are used only for personal use by visiting foreign nationals and are exported when the one-year grace period has expired. The defendants claimed that the imported vehicles were for temporary personal use, but they then obtained American titles for the vehicles and sold them. Selling non-standard vehicles that do not meet American environmental standards makes it difficult for localities to control air pollution, that causes a variety of respiratory diseases. The case was investigated by EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division, the U.S. Customs Service, the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Miami-Dade Police Department. It is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Miami. An indictment is merely an accusation and all defendants are presumed innocent unless or until proven guilty in a court of law.
R-138 # # #
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