Crime & Law
Chicago Charges Put Federal Trade Fraud Task Force Over $1B in Recoveries, Penalties: Officials
Chicago's U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros speaks during a news conference in Bensenville, Ill., on July 14, 2026. (WTTW News)
Charges filed in Chicago against a pair of jewelry importers who allegedly smuggled large amounts of gold into the U.S. helped propel a new federal task force past the $1 billion threshold for recoveries and penalties over the past year, officials announced.
Chicago’s U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros joined U.S. Department of Justice officials in suburban Bensenville on Tuesday to announce the milestone reached by the Trade Fraud Task Force.
“There should be no doubt,” Boutros said at a U.S. Customs and Border facility, “the key roads for trade fraud enforcement lead from, to and through Chicago, both past, present and now future as well.”
The DOJ in February selected Boutros’ office as a lead prosecutorial partner on the task force, which targets major trade fraud schemes nationwide and carries out enforcement actions against those who evade federal customs laws and smugglers seeking to import prohibited goods into the U.S.
That task force is now responsible for more than $1 billion in civil and criminal recoveries, penalties, forfeitures and publicly charged losses since it was launched last August, officials said Tuesday.
Colin McDonald, the assistant attorney general for the National Fraud Enforcement Division, said the task force marks a “new frontier of fraud enforcement.”
“For too long, bad actors seeking to exploit the American economy have decided that ignoring and violating U.S. customs laws is a business risk worth taking,” McDonald said. “Those days are over.”
According to the feds, the case that pushed the task force over the $1 billion threshold came last month when Boutros’ office charged Raj Kohli and Veena Kohli, who operate a gold jewelry importing and wholesale company in California.
Between 2020 and 2024, they allegedly imported some 560 separate entries of gold jewelry that they falsely declared as having been manufactured in Singapore — rather than their true countries of origin in India and United Arab Emirates — in order to avoid paying approximately $38 million in customs duties.
Boutros’ office filed charges last week in another similar case involving a Naperville jewelry importer, who also allegedly lied about the country of origin for their imported gold to avoid paying $13.6 million in customs duties.
“To the fraudsters who think that they can slip under our radar,” McDonald said, “we are dedicated to finding you and bringing you to justice.”
