Inspector Held in U.S. Customs Bribery Case

A U.S Customs Service inspector was arrested and $1.2 million in cash was seized at his Whittier home after he was accused of taking bribes to allow importers to smuggle $56 million worth of goods into the country, agency officials said Tuesday.

Daniel W. Ekman, 53, was taken into custody after a 10-month investigation into what authorities say is the largest bribery case in U.S. Customs history.

Ekman, a senior inspector assigned to the Port of Los Angeles, was charged in a federal complaint with aiding and abetting the smuggling of goods--including T-shirts from China and frozen fish from Thailand.

He also was charged with falsifying data for importers in dozens of cases and accepting cash bribes that allowed the shippers to circumvent quotas and inspections and avoid paying $6 million in duties.

Investigators who searched his home discovered $1.2 million in cash stored in boxes in his garage, according to a federal affidavit, and Ekman has admitted receiving the money “in exchange for improperly using his authority to release smuggled merchandise into U.S. commerce.”

Although Ekman was arrested Nov. 19 at the agency’s Office of Internal Affairs in Long Beach, information about the case was not revealed until Tuesday because the investigation is continuing, agency spokesman Robert Battaglia said. “We wanted to make sure that the investigation was not compromised,” he said.

John Luksic, special agent in charge of the Los Angeles district office, said there might be further arrests and indictments. “This case was the result of a cooperative effort between Customs’ criminal investigators and the district director’s office to police our own and the commitment of the Customs Service to maintain the highest level of integrity,” Luksic said in a written statement.

Ekman, currently in the federal Metropolitan Corrections Center in downtown Los Angeles, could not be reached for comment. He is being held on $500,000 bail.

The affidavit said that over the last two years, Ekman entered false information into customs computers and signed authorizations allowing dozens of cargo shipments--most of them from Asia--to enter the country without inspection.

Ekman, who has been with the Customs Service since 1974, worked on the dock examination team, which was responsible for clearing large bulk items such as shiploads of steel, according to the affidavit.

His normal duties did not include inspecting containers that were targeted for intensive examinations. However, the government alleges that he expedited such shipments for importers in exchange for bribes.

Ekman’s action prevented the government from collecting duties on the merchandise and allowed the shipment of T-shirts to bypass quotas for Chinese imports, the affidavit alleges.

In one case, Ekman cleared a shipment that was identified as metal typing tables and folding chairs from Hong Kong but in fact was cotton T-shirts from China valued at more than $408,000.

Customs agents later seized the illegal shipment, authorities said.

In another case, Ekman reported that a Hong Kong-based company was importing 4,500 cartons of hair dryers valued at nearly $130,000 and signed off on the shipment. However, investigators learned that the cargo actually was $324,000 worth of T-shirts from China that were delivered to a Los Angeles company.

Ekman described a third shipment as machine parts and VHS tape rewinders, but the containers actually held more T-shirts from China.

The overall value of the merchandise that was allowed to enter the country by Ekman surpassed $56 million and cost the government $6 million in revenue, according to authorities. But they said there was no evidence that the containers inspected by Ekman included any narcotics.

The investigation of Ekman was apparently triggered when authorities discovered that two shipments he had approved did not contain the merchandise he had described, said Senior Special Agent Allan Nakamura of the Customs office of internal affairs, which handled the inquiry.

Further investigation led to similar discoveries and a wiretap was authorized by the courts. Ekman was confronted by investigators Nov. 19 and was arrested that day.

Investigators said Ekman admitted expediting the release of shipments for importer Leonard Fu, owner of Greenfield/A&A; Electronics.

The affidavit said Ekman admitted receiving more than $1 million in bribes from other importers, including Pramorte Tilakamonkul, president of Bangkok Market in Maywood, and Vin Ma, an officer of an import company in downtown Los Angeles.

They were not charged and they could not be reached for comment.

Customs spokesman Battaglia said he was unaware of any other inspectors who have been arrested or disciplined for similar allegations and could not provide further details about the investigation. “We’re limited in what we can disclose at this point,” he said.

As a Customs inspector, Ekman’s job was similar to that of personnel working at Los Angeles International Airport and other points of entry. By contrast, Customs agents are criminal investigators who play a law enforcement role much like that of their counterparts in the FBI.