Rob Babcock said:
What I wanna know is...what did the owner know, and when did he know it.
There are two owners who both, at the very least, knew/know full well that pulling the country of origin stickers off prepackaged terminated cables was moraly wrong. If they thought that the act of pulling the stickers meant they could say it was made in USA because this repackaging labor occured in the USA, won't be a legal defense as ignorance of a law doesn't mean you can't/won't get prosecuted for violationg that law.
Using bulk cable and termination parts from China and terminating it in the USA is perfectly legal to then label it 'Made in USA' But that's not what they are in trouble for.
These cables were preterminated and already in plastic clamshell packaging. After the stickers were pulled, the clamshell packaged cables were also put in new cardboard boxes without country of origin printing on them so no touring customers could see that they were sourced from China. The stickers and old shipping boxes were then disposed of. The owners strictly enforced this policy.
The cable's quality isn't an issue here but it's still illegal to sell or distribute them in altered packaging and/or labeling.
BTW many of TARA's employees are actively seeking employment elsewhere for obvious reasons. Many of them were unhappy there even before this all hit the fan.
