CHICAGO, July 14 (Reuters) – The Department of Justice said on Tuesday it is creating a new global trade enforcement section of its National Fraud Division to investigate and prosecute criminal import, trade and customs fraud offenses.
• The new unit is part of a shift by federal agencies from pursuing administrative fines for import violations to criminal prosecutions. Since the DOJ and the Department of Homeland Security launched the Trade Fraud Task Force in August 2025, the agencies have exceeded $1 billion in civil and criminal recoveries, penalties, forfeitures and publicly charged losses.
• The DOJ’s trade fraud unit’s mission is to investigate and prosecute criminal schemes to import goods illegally that violate U.S. product safety and anti-forced labor laws or misreport import values and other information to evade tariffs.
• “For too long, fraud actors have viewed customs violations as a mere surcharge or cost of doing business,” Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald said in a statement. “By utilizing the Department’s full weight, we are making it clear that trade fraud is a serious economic crime.”
• DOJ and DHS officials made the announcement at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection inspection warehouse near Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, a major import hub, amid boxes of confiscated illegal vaping devices and drones.
• The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois also announced criminal charges in two Chicago-based gold jewelry import cases in which defendants were separately accused of falsely declaring the country of origin to evade tariffs. The jewelry had a combined import value of $933 million and avoided customs duties of $51.6 million, the office said.
(Reporting by David Lawder)
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