DOJ Criminal Division Portends Tariff-Evasion Enforcement Wave

A US Department of Justice Criminal Division official announced on December 3, 2025, significant developments in how the Trade Fraud Task Force generates leads and brings criminal cases for alleged tariff evasion, emphasizing that more cases are in the pipeline beyond three recently announced corporate enforcement actions.

At the American Conference Institute’s 42nd Annual Conference on FCPA and Global Anti-Corruption in Washington, DC—an event normally focused on anti-corruption enforcement—a US Department of Justice (DOJ) official announced updates in how the cross-agency Trade Fraud Task Force (the Task Force), led by DOJ and the Department of Homeland Security, develops leads, investigates, and prosecutes criminal tariff evasion.

DOJ ANNOUNCEMENT

Criminal Division Senior Counsel Cody Herche emphasized that the Task Force plans to draw from DOJ Health Care Fraud Unit’s data-driven playbook to develop leads indicating potential criminal violations of US tariff laws, including 18 USC § 542 (entry of goods by means of false statements) and 18 USC § 545 (smuggling goods into the United States), both of which carry significant penalties and fines for individuals and corporations and the latter of which carries a statutory maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years.

COMMON TYPOLOGIES OF TARIFF EVASION

Mr. Herche emphasized the common typologies of tariff evasion on which the Task Force is focused, including falsifying country of origin, falsifying value, and falsifying goods’ classification on the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States. He pointed to recent cases that, although their inception predated the Task Force’s formal launch on August 29, 2025, are illustrative of the types of cases the Task Force intends to pursue with an increased deliberate focus:

• The November 21, 2025 guilty plea by European infant formula maker Able Groupe Inc. for passing and attempting to pass false and fraudulent documents through customs to defraud the United States in violation of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and for smuggling goods into the United States in violation of 18 USC § 545.
• The November 12, 2025 criminal complaint against the Indonesian company UBS Gold, its co-owner, and several employees for evading more than $86 million in customs duties and tariffs on Indonesian jewelry through a combination of transshipment (through Jordan) and false reporting of country of origin, via a conspiracy to commit wire fraud in violation of 18 USC § 1349.
• The August 21, 2025 indictment of two Denver-area companies, Endless Sales Inc. and Octane Forklifts Inc., and the companies’ top executives for defrauding the federal government and evading tariffs by selling Chinese-origin forklifts as “Made in America” through a criminal conspiracy (under 18 USC § 371) to violate (and causing others to violate) 18 USC § 542.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

These highlighted cases demonstrate a commitment by the Task Force and DOJ Criminal Division to employ traditional white-collar enforcement tactics in prosecuting criminal tariff evasion. Companies should ensure that trade compliance programs and other relevant corporate functions and stakeholders factor in the risk of criminal enforcement.

This includes communication and awareness to guard against violating the various inchoate provisions of US criminal laws (i.e., aiding and abetting, causing, and criminal conspiracy); the various anti-fraud and false statement laws that might apply to representations to the US government in terms of country of origin, valuation, and classification; and the potential significance of the “collective knowledge doctrine” that allows prosecutors to impute to the corporation the various facts collectively known by employees (i.e., it is not just the facts that the trade compliance team knows that will drive the risk of potential criminal fines or imprisonment but also the facts known by the sales, logistics, and finance teams). Now is the time for companies to treat tariff compliance not just as a civil or administrative risk but as an area of potential criminal liability as well.

Finally, as the DOJ and Department of Homeland Security announced at the Task Force’s creation in August 2025, Mr. Herche emphasized that the Task Force is aggressively encouraging whistleblowers—including competitors—to report suspected violations that undermine the ability of law-abiding US importers to compete fairly.

HOW WE CAN HELP

Our white collar and international trade and national security stand ready to assist companies in

• assessing or reassessing customs duties and tariffs compliance and enforcement risks in light of the DOJ’s public statements;
• evaluating, adopting, and defending legitimate ways to reduce tariff exposure consistent with applicable law while avoiding common pitfalls or misperceptions; and
• responding to investigations by any US agencies challenging importers’ positions on customs duties and tariffs.

Our white collar and international trade and national security practices are at the forefront of practical, risk-based responses to investigations and compliance regarding US customs duties and tariffs, as well as investigations and compliance related to US criminal and national security laws more generally.

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