The Department of Justiceannounced July 24 that a U.S. importer has agreed to pay $4.9 million toresolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act and other laws byevading antidumping and countervailing duties on items made of extruded aluminumoriginating from China.
This is at least the third suchpenalty announced in the last month as enforcement efforts appear to beaccelerating amid an unprecedented increase in U.S. import tariffs. A seniorDOJ official said recently that trade will be a priorityfor FCA enforcement under the Trump administration.
According to the DOJ, thissettlement resolves ges that the company knowingly submitted and caused tobe submitted false customs forms to U.S. Customs and Border Protection claimingthat certain furniture parts made of extruded aluminum were not subject toAD/CVD duties. The U.S. alleged that in some cases the company attempted tocamouflage the aluminum extrusions by packaging the parts as sham furniture?its,?while in other cases it knowingly failed to correct customs forms ithad submitted previously even after learning that they falsely claimed theparts were not subject to AD/CVD duties.
The DOJ states that these allegations arose from a whistleblower lawsuitfiled under the False Claims Act by a former employee of the company. Under theFCA private citizens can sue on behalf of the government and share in anyrecovery.
