Once it had replaced the tainted Chinese drywall causing a furor among builders and suppliers in South Florida during 2006, Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin Co. Ltd. offered the problematic material back to its main supplier with the caveat that it not be sold in the United States.
Donald “Mickey” Coblentz, an executive with Miami-based Banner Supply, said in a sworn deposition unsealed by a judge on Friday that Knauf officials tried to resell the suspect board after taking it back from Banner in 2007, but nobody wanted it.
Knauf subsequently offered the board back to Banner for free, Coblentz said.
“They offered me the drywall for free and I said no. Then they came back and said if we give you the board we want you to sell it overseas,” Coblentz said. “I go, you take care of your board. I don’t want it.”