The Department of Justice announced July 24 that a U.S. importer has agreed to pay $4.9 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act and other laws by evading antidumping and countervailing duties on items made of extruded aluminum originating from China.
This is at least the third such penalty announced in the last month as enforcement efforts appear to be accelerating amid an unprecedented increase in U.S. import tariffs. A senior DOJ official said recently that trade will be a priority for FCA enforcement under the Trump administration.
According to the DOJ, this settlement resolves charges that the company knowingly submitted and caused to be submitted false customs forms to U.S. Customs and Border Protection claiming that certain furniture parts made of extruded aluminum were not subject to AD/CVD duties. The U.S. alleged that in some cases the company attempted to camouflage the aluminum extrusions by packaging the parts as sham furniture “kits,” while in other cases it knowingly failed to correct customs forms it had submitted previously even after learning that they falsely claimed the parts were not subject to AD/CVD duties.
The DOJ states that these allegations arose from a whistleblower lawsuit filed under the False Claims Act by a former employee of the company. Under the FCA private citizens can sue on behalf of the government and share in any recovery.
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