CWD Holdings LLC agreed to pay the United States $8 million to resolve allegations by a Hoyer Law Group whistleblower client that it violated the False Claims Act by knowingly avoiding paying tariffs on certain imported brake parts. The complaint alleged that CWD falsely claimed that the mounted brake pads it in fact imported, which carried a 2.5% tariff, were unmounted brake pads, which required no tariff.
Hoyer Law Group’s whistleblower client alleged that from 2007 to 2017, CWD knowingly imported into the United States mounted brake pad sets subject to a 2.5% tariff under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule and misrepresented the nature of the imported goods to United States Customs and Border Protection. The complaint alleged that CWD falsely represented to U.S. Customs that the mounted disk brake pad sets were unmounted brake pads, requiring the payment of no duty, in order to avoid payment of the 2.5% tariff.
CWD Holdings avoided millions of dollars in customs duties by misrepresenting the nature of the imported goods to U.S. Customs… With this lawsuit and the accompanying resolution, CWD Holdings is being held to account for its unlawful evasion of customs duties.
U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider for the Eastern District of Michigan.
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