It was a complex scheme for a simple crime: With dozens of shell corporations, a gargantuan aluminum stockpile in the central Mexican countryside and several warehouses scattered across Los Angeles and New Jersey ports, the Chinese aluminum firm Zhongwang Holdings successfully avoided U.S. tariffs for at least four years, defrauding the American government out of $1.8 billion. Liu Zhongtian toasts during the ceremony for Zhongwang Holdings' listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, May 8, 2009