Recent developments include fair warning from the Department of Justice that national security concerns can invade even ordinary business activities, a reminder that the False Claims Act increasingly is being used as a weapon against companies that underpay Customs duties, and a multimillion-dollar message that federal judges find it kind of fishy to see price fixing between competitors.

National Security Risks

According to Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General Marshall Miller, the Department of Justice is finding that two-thirds of the DOJ’s major corporate criminal resolutions are now implicating U.S. national security. According to Mr. Miller, “[E]ven business operations and lines far removed from the defense sector — cigarettes, cement, information technology — can pose dire national security risks if the company is not highly sensitive to high-risk actors, high-risk areas, and high-risk internal activity,” including any operations in areas “controlled by autocracies.” Has your company conducted a global risk assessment in the last two years, to identify your highest-risk operations?

Customs False Claims Act Matter

In a recent settlement of a False Claims Act case, an importer agreed to pay $765,000 for failing to mark goods with the country of origin. Notably, the settlement was not premised on the underpayment of tariffs; instead, the underpaid duties were based on a 10-percent penalty that Customs is allowed to impose for failing to follow the Customs marking...

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