NEW YORK — Isaac and Haim Dabah, co-founders and former top executives of Gitano Group, were each sentenced by a federal judge Wednesday to three years probation for their part in a scheme to avoid import quotas on women’s blouses.
Judge Robert Patterson also sentenced them to six months home detention and 300 hours of community service, along with fines of $20,000 each.
The two Dabah brothers, along with a former Gitano vice president and two apparel exporting executives, were charged with conspiring to mislabel country of origin to get the blouses into the U.S.
The Dabahs, according to the charges, violated Customs laws in 1991 and 1992 by importing $2.7 million worth of blouses from China and Malaysia and falsely reporting tthat they originated in the Maldives.
Both brothers reached a plea agreement with prosecutors last December and faced up to a year in prison and fines of up to $20,000 each. Isaac was Gitano’s president until his resignation in December 1993. Haim was chief executive officer before stepping aside in February 1993. In tearful pleas for leniency, the Dabahs asked the judge not to send them to jail.
The judge said he hoped the sentences would deter other people from like crimes.