ANTIDUMPING Whistle-blower wins $8 million in pigment dumping case

Abstract

A whistle-blower is nearly $8 million richer after helping the U.S. government establish an antidumping case against a Japanese ink manufacturer. Toyo Ink is paying $45 million to settle a suit filed by the government and John Dickson, CEO of Fort Mill, S.C.-based Nation Ford Chemical, alleging that Toyo imported carbazole violet pigment 23 (CVP-23) under false pretenses to avoid paying duties. Importers of Indian and Chinese CVP-23 must pay antidumping duties. The government alleges that Toyo misrepresented CVP-23 from these countries as being made in Japan or Mexico, which are not subject to the duties. Although the government acknowledges that Toyo’s CVP-23 underwent a finishing process in Japan and Mexico before it was sent to the U.S., it says these steps were insufficient to change the country of origin. Dickson, whose company produces CVP-23, says his sleuthing sniffed out the fraudulence of Toyo’s pigment origin claims. “I had sufficient ...