By Marcelle Dibrell
Three Americans — including one Arizona-based pool builder — have been indicted on felony charges of illegally importing a common pool and spa sanitizing chemical from China and distributing it in the U.S.
The U.S. Department of Justice charged the men with illegally selling more than $3.2 million worth of trichlor from June 2021 to November 2022.
According to court documents, the defendants, Jermoine “Jay” Brantley and Haneef Saleem, co-founders of Macleem Sportswear, were charged with 26 counts of smuggling trichlor into the country from China, failure to pay tariffs and other applicable duties, conspiracy, fraud, and other related charges.
Brian Morris, of Ugly Pool Guy, a Peoria, Arizona-based pool building company also called We Fix Ugly Pools.com, was charged along with the other men of crimes related to the transportation of trichlor throughout the U.S. and for defrauding customers about the purity of the product.
According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s office, Northern District of California: “The indictment describes how,
Trichlor is commercially available in granular and tablet form. Trichlor adds cyanuric acid to water and the acid is useful in stabilizing the free chlorine in the water. Since it is a solid containing concentrated chlorine, it provides a residual level of chlorine required to kill pathogenic organisms in water. during the early 2020s, a domestic shortage of TCCA [trichlor] as well as an increase in the tariffs and duties applying to the importation of the chemical from China, resulted in a dramatic increase in the price of TCCA in the United States.
“Brantley and Saleem allegedly took steps to smuggle the product into the country without paying applicable tariffs and duties that would have made the price of the product less competitive. In addition to the smuggling scheme, the indictment describes how all three defendants allegedly participated in a scheme to fraudulently market and sell the product and arranged to have the hazardous materials transported without the proper paperwork and precautions from U.S. ports to customers throughout the United States.”
The indictment states that around July of 2018, the U.S. began imposing an additional 25-percent tariff on a range of products manufactured in China, including trichlor. That tariff went into effect in 2019, which caused some U.S. chlorine suppliers to stop purchasing trichlor from China and instead rely on domestic sources.
Then, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a boom in swimming pool demand in the U.S., which naturally led to a higher demand for chlorine, causing prices to increase. However, American chlorine prices really skyrocketed after the August 2020 fire at the Louisiana-based BioLab facility, which wiped out a large percentage of domestic trichlor. These events made the price of Chinese-manufactured trichlor (even with its tariffs) appear more reasonable.
According to the indictment, however, Brantley and Saleem were able to avoid paying various federally mandated tariffs and duties on the trichlor by intentionally mislabeling their shipments with the wrong import codes and mis-identifying their goods. Thus, the indictment states, they were able to import 66 shipments of trichlor without triggering the applicable tariffs and duties.
In 2021, Brantley and Saleem sent out a mass email, soliciting clients to buy trichlor, falsely advertising that their company was “registered with the EPA”, the indictment states.
That’s when Brian Morris of Ugly Pool Guy allegedly became involved. Morris reportedly placed large orders for the trichlor tabs from Brantley and Saleem and then labeled the tabs with his own brand for sale to pool supply companies in Arizona and Texas.
According to the indictment, Morris advertised the tabs on Facebook, YouTube, and other social media sites as containing 99-percent trichlor. But within five months, Morris began hearing from customers that the tabs did not contain 99-percent trichlor and were actually diluted with boric acid. Morris warned Brantley by text message that their claims about the product were fraudulent. Nonetheless, all parties continued to sell the trichlor as previously advertised. Also during this time, Morris attempted to register his Ugly Pool Guy trichlor product with the Arizona Department of Agriculture (AZDA) under an EPA registration number that belonged to a different company. The AZDA rejected the application because the trichlor product was mislabeled, having the wrong EPA number. Morris continued selling the product.
The apparent jig was up by November 2022. In September of that year, two shipments of trichlor from China arrived at the Port of Oakland, California, and were detained because they were leaking. The EPA, DOT, and Department of Homeland Security examined the containers and discovered they were falsely labeled.
This triggered the detainment of additional shipments, all misbranded.
Brantley, Saleem, and Morris were arraigned in San Francisco before U.S. Magistrate Judge Alex G. Tse on September 12 to face the charges. The three entered “not guilty” pleas to all counts. If convicted on all charges, Brantley and Saleem could receive a maximum of 76 years in prison. For Morris’ role in the alleged crimes, he could face up to 47 years.
Trichlor bucket from indictment.
