WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced today that a federal grand jury in Houston, Texas has indicted Chuck Bai-Fun Chen on various charges stemming from an investigation by the CPSC of Mr. Chen's Houston businesses, including Wholesale World, Inc., Texas Tech Mart, Inc., and USA Maxam, Inc.
The indictment charges Mr. Chen with the following federal offenses:
- making false statements to a CPSC investigator in response to specific inquiries regarding Mr. Chen's importation, sale and current inventory of potentially hazardous electrical extension cords and Christmas lights;
- distributing electrical extension cords with counterfeit Underwriters Laboratories' trademarks; and
- using a dual invoice scheme to understate the value of products he imported to reduce the amount he had to pay on importation duties.
