Founding Attorney
The Department of Justice is cracking down on trade fraud. Accordingly, Bloomberg Law’s August 18, 2026 Deep Dive examines that push. Specifically, the feature quotes Transnational Matters PLLC founding attorney Davy Aaron Karkason alongside counsel from O’Melveny, Hogan Lovells, and Morgan Lewis. Moreover, the piece focuses on the DOJ’s intensifying pursuit of tariff evasion and customs fraud.
The article examines the DOJ’s Trade Fraud Task Force, a joint effort with the Department of Homeland Security formed in August 2025. In fact, the task force has recovered more than US$1 billion through criminal prosecutions and civil enforcement. Much of that sum came through False Claims Act settlements with importers accused of misdeclaring the origin of goods from China. For example, recent trade fraud resolutions include a US$5.15 million settlement over LED imports declared as Taiwanese. Likewise, one aluminum-extrusions matter settled for nearly US$550 million.
What Mr. Karkason Told Bloomberg Law About Trade Fraud
Mr. Karkason explained that using the False Claims Act against importers for trade fraud is not new. However, the government has now “built real machinery around the issue.” He described how the DOJ–DHS partnership gives prosecutors direct access to the import declarations companies file with U.S. Customs and Border Protection. As a result, the government already holds a company’s own entry forms before any investigation becomes public. In addition, he analyzed why treble damages, per-entry penalties, and today’s tariff rates often make early settlement the rational choice.
What This Means for Importers
In practice, our international trade disputes practice confronts this enforcement environment every day. Importers of record, customs brokers, and supply-chain principals face growing trade fraud exposure on country-of-origin declarations, tariff classification, and valuation. Meanwhile, whistleblower incentives of 15 to 30 per cent of recoveries keep driving new complaints. Our firm advises on customs compliance and represents companies in trade-fraud investigations and False Claims Act matters. Furthermore, we litigate before the U.S. Court of International Trade.
Has your company received a CBP inquiry or a DOJ civil investigative demand? Are your import declarations under scrutiny? If so, contact our office for a confidential trade fraud assessment, or call 305.417.9866.
