On May 12, 2025, head of the Department of Justice Criminal Division Matthew Galeotti delivered a speech in which he stated that the Department augmented its corporate whistleblower program to prioritize the following subject matters for whistleblower tips: “procurement and federal program fraud; trade, tariff, and customs fraud; violations of federal immigration law; and violations involving sanctions, material support of foreign terrorist organizations, or those that facilitate cartels and [Transnational Crime Organizations], including money laundering, narcotics, and Controlled Substances Act violations.”
This is not the first time the Trump Administration has made clear its emphasis on and attention to trade, tariffs, and customs enforcement. In April, the President issued an executive order imposing increased tariffs on numerous foreign countries. You can read more about the order and the current tariff framework here.
Inclusion of trade, tariff, and customs fraud in the corporate whistleblower program should incentivize insiders with firsthand knowledge of fraud to step forward and assist the government in enforcing new and preexisting tariffs, as the program offers rewards to those who report noncompliance. Whistleblower tips must result in the government recovering at least $1 million for the whistleblower to be eligible for a monetary award.
When the program was first rolled out in August 2024, qualifying tips were generally focused on and limited to “(1) certain crimes involving financial institutions, from traditional banks to cryptocurrency businesses; (2) foreign corruption involving misconduct by companies; (3) domestic corruption involving misconduct by companies; or (4) health care fraud schemes involving private insurance plans.” Galeotti’s May 12th announcement provided notification that trade, tariff, and customs fraud are now included in this list of enforcement priorities.
Importers of record (IOR)—those entities responsible to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection for shipments coming through United States Customs—are required to self-report imports. For goods coming into the United States, IORs must report the category of the goods as outlined by the Harmonized Tariff Schedule, the volume, the value, and the originating country.
There are numerous ways in which an IOR can fail to comply with trade, tariff, and customs regulations. Here are some of the more common failures we see:
- Misclassification: The IOR incorrectly labels the type of good shipped, as some categories of goods carry higher tariffs than others.
- Underreporting: The IOR understates the volume of goods or the value of the goods as a way of reducing tariff obligations.
- Transshipment: Goods are shipped from one foreign country to another before arriving in the U.S. as a way of concealing the goods’ true country of origin, as different origin countries have varying tariff rates.
- False country of origin: Like transshipment, but there is no hassle of having the goods shipped to an intermediary before their ultimate arrival in the U.S. Instead, the IOR simply alleges that the goods originated in a country other than their true source.
- False documentation: The IOR submits doctored or entirely forged invoices or other documentation of imports.
Whether the fraud falls under one of these categories or is more novel, whistleblowers stand to reap significant benefits by reporting the fraud to the DOJ corporate whistleblower program. Whistleblowers may receive up to 30% of the funds recovered by the government as a result of the whistleblower’s tip.
For example, on March 25, 2025, the Department of Justice reached an $8.1 million settlement with a California-based corporation that evaded customs duties on wood imported from China. Among other things, the corporation misstated the country of origin. This settlement stemmed from a whistleblower suit. That whistleblower is now entitled to $1.2 million.[1]
Should you have information regarding trade, tariff, or customs fraud, we recommend consulting experienced legal counsel. There are certain requirements that must be met for a whistleblower to be eligible for the financial incentive offered by the DOJ.
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[1] This tip was brought under the False Claims Act rather than the newly introduced trade, tariff, and customs component of the corporate whistleblower program. Whistleblower tips regarding trade, tariff, and customs that do not fall under the False Claims Act are now covered by the corporate whistleblower program.
