For the first time, individuals are being held criminally accountable for putting American’s lives at risk by failing to comply with their legal obligations to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). The California jury’s guilty verdicts for Simon Chu and Charley Loh, the Chief Administrative Officer and the Chief Executive Officer, respectively, of Gree USA, Inc., show that CPSC will pursue not only corporations but also individuals who violate the law.
Simon Chu and Charley Loh failed to report to the CPSC that their Gree dehumidifiers contained a defect that could create a substantial product hazard or create an unreasonable risk of serious injury or death – in this case, the dehumidifiers could catch on fire. The Government’s case involved a showing that Chu and Loh knew that the dehumidifiers could catch fire and that they were required to report, but continued to sell the dangerous dehumidifiers for at least six months, endangering U.S. consumers at large.
The criminal verdicts against Simon Chu and Charley Loh should serve as a warning to companies that CPSC and its Federal partners will continue to aggressively pursue those who fail to take consumer product safety seriously. Thank you to the U.S. Department of Justice and CPSC staff for all your hard work in securing this outcome.