The United States has intervened in a False Claims Act whistleblower lawsuit, an anti-dumping claim that accused a furniture company of evading millions in duties and customs fees.

According to the anti-dumping claim, the Florida-based Blue Furniture Solutions LLC imported wooden bedroom furniture from China but avoided paying the anti-dumping rate of 216.01 percent. The company allegedly did this by giving false information to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

While Blue Furniture told Customs and Border Protection (CBP) that many of its products weren’t subject for anti-dumping duties, even going so far as to provide the CBP with false codes and descriptions, the anti-dumping claim notes that many of these products were actually meant to be subject to anti-dumping duties. In this way, the lawsuit claims, Blue Furniture avoided paying millions of dollars to the government over the course of four years, from 2011 through 2015, according to the anti-dumping claim.

“To avoid the payment of anti-dumping duties and fees, defendants conspired with their Chinese manufacturers and exporters to fraudulently avoid customs duties and underpay fees owed to the United States by making false representations in entry documents about the nature and value of the imported merchandise,” the complaint says.

Before the U.S. government joined in, the anti-dumping claim was originally filed by University Loft Co. in July 2015. In April of this year, the government intervened, notifying the court of its intention to join the lawsuit.

The anti-dumping claim lawsuit was filed on multiple counts, including two counts of violation of the False Claims Act and unjust enrichment. According to the lawsuit, Blue Furniture not only evaded anti-dumping duties and fees, but even instructed its manufactures in China how to precisely mislabel and misclassify this merchandise to avoid the fees while going through CBP.

Filing a Whistleblower Lawsuit

Whistleblowers are those who report the fraud and illegal activities against the government of their current or former employers, including this anti-dumping claim. Many employees choose to come forward as whistleblowers because they do not feel right about their employer’s actions.

A whistleblower lawsuit can be filed while working at the company, but can also be filed after having left the company. While a person considering becoming a whistleblower may be worried that they will face retaliation for their actions, the whistleblower is typically given a substantial reward—often between 15 and 30 percent of the money recovered in the subsequent whistleblower lawsuit. In this instance, the whistleblowers were awarded exactly 15 percent of the total settlement amount.

If you believe you have witnessed some kind of fraud by your current or former employer such as in the case of this anti-dumping claim, you may be able to file a whistleblower lawsuit (sometimes known as a qui tam lawsuit) against your employer on behalf of the government.

The Anti-Dumping Claim Lawsuit is Case No. 1:15-cv-00588-LY, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.