Federal task force surpasses $1 billion in trade fraud cases

A pair of jewelry importers have been charged in federal court in Chicago with smuggling millions of dollars in gold jewelry into the U.S. to avoid taxes, schemes uncovered by a federal task force that has surpassed $1 billion in recoveries and penalties over the past year.

"Make no mistake, this $1 billion milestone is a baseline, not a finish line, and we are just getting started," Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald said.

Federal charges filed on Friday in federal court in Chicago say Narain Gulabani, the owner and operator of Barkha Wholesale, an Illinois company of gold jewelry registered to an address in Naperville, brought in a total of nearly $241 million worth of gold jewelry from India and the United Arab Emirates.

According to the charges, Barkha falsely claimed the jewelry came from Oman or Singapore — which both have a duty-free arrangement with the U.S. As a result, the company skirted more than $13.6 million in duties and related fees.

So far, Barkha has not responded to CBS News Chicago requests for comment.

Meantime, Raj Kohli and Veena Kohli, who run a California gold jewelry importer, also have been charged in federal court in Chicago for avoiding $38 million in United States customs duties through a similar scheme.

"These fraud schemes threaten our national and economic security, steal from taxpayers," McDonald said.

Thanks to these two cases, the Justice Department said its Trade Fraud Task Force has now topped $1 billion in civil and criminal recoveries, penalties, forfeitures, and publicly charged losses since the task force was launched last August.

Federal partners broke the news against the backdrop of another type of violation — crates upon crates of drones made with forced labor, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

"They work for basically nothing, and so we are responsible for ensuring that goods that are made with forced labor do not enter the United States commerce," said Susan S. Thomas, executive assistant commissioner of the Office of Trade at CBP.

The task force's largest case to date was a record-breaking $549.5 million settlement announced in May - involving imported aluminum. Two California-based aluminum companies and four affiliated warehousing companies agreed to the settlement to resolve claims they evaded duties on aluminum imported from China.