In his February 20, 2025 keynote address to the Federal Bar Association's (FBA) annual qui tam conference in Washington, DC, Deputy Assistant Attorney General (DAAG) Michael Granston emphasized that the Department of Justice (DOJ) intends to make "illegal foreign trade practices" a major focus of False Claims Act (FCA) enforcement going forward, stating: "You can expect the Department to continue to use the False Claims Act to enforce these trade laws." 

Granston also linked "aggressive" enforcement of the FCA to the government's broader efforts to increase government efficiency, stating that "consistent with the new administration's stated focus on achieving governmental efficiency and rooting out waste, fraud and abuse... the department plans to continue to aggressively enforce the False Claims Act."

Other DOJ representatives also referenced trade as a major area focus for DOJ at the FBA conference. Ann Jamie Yavelbert, Director of the DOJ's Civil Fraud Section, called out customs and tariff evasion cases as a "key area" for enforcement going forward, with cases likely to focus on misrepresentations about (1) "where a product is coming from," (2) its "declared value," and (3) the "number of goods" involved. Yavelbert referenced the $22.8 million dollar settlement by vitamin importer International Vitamin Corporation in 2023 as an example of the cases that the DOJ intends to pursue. 

As we have reported in the past, the DOJ can and does pursue criminal and civil investigations against importers who are suspected of intentionally smuggling material into the U.S. in violation of governing trade restrictions. The FCA is a particularly powerful tool for this purpose, due to its broad scope, potential for treble damages and civil penalties, and qui tam provisions incentivizing private whistleblowers to initiate claims. As noted by Miller & Chevalier Member Richard Mojica in Bloomberg, such enforcements were already increasing prior to the new administration, with the DOJ obtaining guilty pleas and settlements in the tens of millions of dollars from trade and customs violations in 2023 and 2024. 

The new administration has already taken forceful measures to impose new tariffs, including the declaration of a national emergency to issue executive orders imposing tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and China. In a recent presidential memo, President Trump ordered federal departments responsible for trade to develop a strategy to impose reciprocal tariffs on U.S. trading partners and on goods in targeted industries where there are believed to be a "non-reciprocal trade relationships."
 
As plans for new tariffs become reality, we expect them to be accompanied by aggressive and increasing DOJ enforcement activity. As Thursday's remarks by senior DOJ officials confirm, the DOJ intends for the FCA to be a significant part of those enforcement efforts. 

For more information, please contact:

Richard A. Mojica, rmojica@milchev.com, 202-626-1571

Joshua Drew, jdrew@milchev.com, 202-626-5811

Bradley E. Markano, bmarkano@milchev.com, 202-626-6061

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