Honey Holding Obtains Retraction of False Statement from American Honey Producers Association
Baytown, TX (PRWEB) April 09, 2014 -- Honey Holding I, Ltd d/b/a Honey Solutions (“Honey Holding”), an industrial honey processor, stated today that it secured a retraction from the American Honey Producers Association (“AHPA”) for their admittedly incorrect representation on the AHPA website stating that Honey Holding had been criminally charged with illegal smuggling of Chinese honey.
On March 7th, Honey Holding notified the American Honey Producers Association that its statement that Honey Holding was criminally charged by the US Government for illegal honey smuggling of Chinese honey was wrong and misleading. Honey Holding demanded a retraction of that false statement. AHPA immediately removed the incorrect and untrue representation from its website.
Early this week, AHPA posted the following statement on its website: “The original version of the article entitled ‘A Class Action Lawsuit Has Been Filed on Behalf of US Beekeepers,’ which was first published on the AHPA website on or about April 24, 2013, included the statement that ‘[t]he U.S. Government brought criminal charges against Groeb Farms, Inc. and Honey Holding for illegal honey smuggling of Chinese honey, etc. for which they agreed to federal fines totaling $3 million.’ That statement was in error. We regret this error. Honey Holding was not criminally charged with illegal smuggling of Chinese honey. An agent of Honey Holding, however, did plead guilty to two counts of violating Title 18 of the United States Code, Sections 2 and 545.” (Case#13CR140: US District Court-No. District of Illinois Eastern Division). http://www.ahpanet.com/?page=LatestNews
Contrary to AHPA’s admittedly inaccurate statement, Honey Holding was never indicted or criminally charged with illegally smuggling Chinese honey into the United States or defrauding the United States of anti-dumping duties. Nor were any former or current owners, officers or employees of Honey Holding indicted or criminally charged for the illegal transshipment of honey or defrauding the United States of anti-dumping duties. The former independent agent referenced in the AHPA retraction 1) acted contrary to Honey Holding’s existing written policies, 2) obtained fake shipping records of the falsely declared Chinese honey thereby defrauding Honey Holding, and 3) accepted undisclosed payments from the Chinese honey suppliers. That agent’s relationship with Honey Holding was severed as a result of his conduct and Honey Holding has instituted enhanced origin compliance procedures, policies and third party origin testing to ensure that any similar efforts to defraud it will no longer be possible.
About Honey Holding I, Ltd.
Honey Holding I, Ltd. – Founded in 1940 as Hignite Packing Company, Honey Holding of Baytown, Texas is one of the largest processors of industrial honey in the United States. Beginning in early 2011 and into 2013, Honey Holding provided extensive assistance to the Department of Homeland Security’s in its efforts to eliminate the importation of fraudulently sourced foreign honey. Honey Holding’s active cooperation and involvement included, but was not limited to, allowing an undercover agent to assume the role of Honey Holding’s Director of Procurement.
Thomas Kennedy, 713-722-8118, [email protected]
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