Last week, Dragon Woodland Sawmill Corp. made local news with its grand opening event in Helena-West Helena.
A couple of years ago, the Memphis couple behind the venture was making national news with a different enterprise.
Yifan Kong, now chairman of Dragon Woodland, and his wife, Erxin Zhou, emerged from federal court in New York with a favorable verdict in a trade tussle with Uncle Sam.
In 2017, a jury in the Big Apple found them not guilty of illegally exporting luxury vehicles, forcing the return of 47 luxury SUVs and trucks and $3.7 million seized by the government.
The case revolved around purchase agreements at the dealerships in which buyers agreed not to export the vehicles. The loophole around that: Middlemen were used to buy BMWs, Porsches, Mercedes-Benzes et al and resell the luxury wheels to the couple’s Efans Trading Corp. for export.
Uncle Sam claimed this was a fraudulent caper in its civil-forfeiture case. The jury said it wasn’t.
“Americans usually assume that once they buy something, it’s theirs to do with as they please. Burn it, sink it or turn it into a planter; if you paid for a new car, it’s yours,” noted Car and Driver in its coverage of the case.
In China, luxury vehicles typically go for three times the price paid in America. According to federal prosecutors, the couple exported more than $80 million worth of vehicles in 2012 alone.
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