NEW LONDON — A New London man has pleaded guilty to conspiring to smuggle Chinese goods into the United States to avoid tariffs.
David Guimond, 48, pleaded guilty last Thursday in the United States District Court of New Hampshire in Concord to one count of conspiracy to smuggle goods into the United States, according to court documents. That resulted in at least $497,249 of unpaid tariff duties.
According to court documents, Guimond was chief operating officer of Global Plastics, based in Manchester, and Marco Polo International, based in Melville, N.Y. Both were subsidiaries of MGI International shareholder, a global plastic resin distributor headquartered in New York City.
In 2021, Winter Storm Uri disrupted domestic resin supplies, and plastic resins originating from China were subject to an additional tariff rate of 25%. According to the indictment from federal prosecutors, Global Plastics and Marco Polo International imported resin from countries outside the United States, including China, but concealed “the true country of origin for the imported resin from (U.S. Customs and Border Protection, or CBP) by importing, entering and selling Chinese-origin plastic resin in the United States using false declarations.”
In March 2021, Guimond texted an unidentified employee of Global Plastics and Marco Polo, regarding the location of where to store plastic resin from China: “Has to be Canada its china resin. 25% extra dumping to usa.”
In May 2021, Guimond further instructed an unidentified employee to “input Taiwan as the country of origin on a manufacturer’s affidavit to a customs broker without regard for the true country of origin for the importation of certain lots that, in fact, contained some China resin,” according to the indictment.
That same month, Guimond emailed an unidentified employee to claim Taiwan as the country of origin on CBP paperwork for a plastic resin shipment imported to the United States from Canada, according to the indictment.
In July 2021, Guimond again instructed an unidentified employee to repackage plastic resin from bags to boxes shipped through Canada for importation into the United States “in part to conceal the resin’s country of origin was China.”
Guimond’s defense attorney, Deborah Curtis, Burden Walker and Henry Almond, were not available by deadline for comment.
MGI placed Guimond on administrative leave in April 2024 and he “has not been an employee of our companies since November 2024,” Vincent Lin, chief administrative officer and CFO of MGI International, said in a Tuesday email.
That same year, MGI “voluntarily self-reported” Guimond’s activities to U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. Department of Justice, according to a December 2025 statement issued by the company.
DOJ declined to prosecute MGI and “agreed to credit $6.8 million previously paid to resolve MGI’s civil liability under the False Claims Act for knowingly failing to pay customs duties on certain plastic resin imported from China,” the DOJ announced in a December 2024 news release.
“Trade laws and customs duties exist to protect American businesses, workers, and the integrity of our markets,” said U.S. Attorney Erin Creegan said in a Jan. 22 release from the Department of Justice. “Schemes that falsify country-of-origin information and evade lawful duties undermine fair competition and take money away from the American taxpayer. This office will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to protect the public from those who attempt to circumvent our trade laws.”
Guimond is facing a sentence of no greater than five years in prison, up to three years of supervised release and a maximum fine of $250,000, or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater.
He is scheduled to appear before Chief U.S. District Judge Samantha D. Elliott for sentencing on June 11.