The whistleblower, a business competitor of the allegedly dishonest importer, received a $286,000 whistleblower reward.
Industrial tools firm King Kong Tools has paid $1.9 million to settle a whistleblower lawsuit alleging it transshipped Chinese merchandise through Germany—fraudulently redesignating them as German origin—to circumvent applicable customs duties.
Whistleblower China Pacificarbide—which competes with King Kong in the industrial tools market—filed the lawsuit under the False Claims Act. It will receive $286,000 or approximately 15% of the recovery as a whistleblower reward, in addition to attorney’s fees, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, which intervened in the case.