NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Mark A. Strauss Law, PLLC, a whistleblower law firm, announced today a $3.64 million False Claims Act settlement with apparel importer Luchiano Visconti Loutie, LLC, of East Rockaway, N.Y., in connection with allegations relating to the falsification of customs documentation and the evasion of import duties on apparel imports from Turkey and China. The qui tam whistleblower—a client of Mark A. Strauss Law, PLLC—will receive a whistleblower award of 20% of the settlement proceeds.

Luchiano--一家豪华男装的进口商和批发商--在和解中承认，它经常向其海关经纪人提供信息和文件，包括商业发票，这些信息和文件大大低估了其进口服装的价值和价格。在某些情况下，Luchiano在向其报关行提供发票之前，改变了其供应商提供的发票。在其他情况下，供应商提供的发票是Luchiano知道或有理由知道没有反映其为货物支付的实际价格。

Luchiano还承认，通过其报关行，它在向美国海关和边境保护局（CBP）提交的入境文件中大大低报了其进口货物的价值，从而经常少付关税。从2013年12月到2019年8月，该公司没有支付其有义务支付的180多万美元的进口关税。

The whistleblower—a citizen of Turkey and an executive at one of Luchiano’s Turkish apparel suppliers—filed the qui tam lawsuit in December 2018 after discovering the fraud through his firm’s commercial dealings with Luchiano. He will receive a whistleblower award—referred to under the False Claims Act as “relator’s share”—of approximately $728,000 from the proceeds of the settlement.

The settlement exemplifies the partnership between qui tam whistleblowers and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), which has made clear that it is committed to fighting customs fraud, and that whistleblowers are vital to that effort. Import-duty evasion not only harms the public fisc but also unfairly disadvantages law-abiding importers.

“Evidence suggests that customs fraud is rampant,” whistleblower attorney Mark A. Strauss said. “Whistleblowers like our client in this case play an important role in levelling the playing field for honest importers who responsibly declare and pay the duties they owe. We believe that similar import-duty evasion schemes are proliferating as importers attempt to avoid the significant tariffs on Chinese imports under Section 301 as well as the new tariffs being imposed on imports from Russia.”

“Whether the customs-fraud scheme in question involves undervaluation, as in this case, or other types of frauds, such as the transshipment of goods through third countries while misdeclaring their country of origin, or the use of improper Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) classifications to avoid higher duty rates, the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act provide a powerful incentive for whistleblowers to expose this type of wrongdoing,” whistleblower attorney Mark A. Strauss added.

Customs fraud violates the False Claims Act, which imposes substantial liabilities on parties who knowingly overcharge or underpay the U.S. government or its agencies like CBP. The False Claims Act’s qui tam provisions authorize private parties—called “relators” or whistleblowers—to sue on behalf of the U.S. government and share in the proceeds. Qui tam whistleblowers under the False Claims Act—who do not have to be American citizens, as the Luchiano case demonstrates—are entitled to awards of 15-30% of any recovery.

关于马克-A-斯特劳斯法律事务所

Whistleblower law firm Mark A. Strauss Law, PLLC, represents qui tam relators under the False Claims Act and other United States whistleblower statutes and programs. Its founder, Mark A. Strauss, has more than twenty years of experience in complex civil anti-fraud litigation, and has successfully represented qui tam whistleblowers under the False Claims Act as well as victims of financial fraud under the federal securities laws. His efforts have resulted in the recovery of hundreds of millions of dollars.

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