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Ford (NYSE:F) has agreed to pay $365M to settle customs civil penalty claims related to misclassified and under-valued vehicles, the U.S. Department of Justice said.
The allegations state that the company violated the Tariff Act of 1930 by misclassifying and understating the value of hundreds of thousands of its Transit Connect vehicles.
The Department of Justice added, the settlement resolves allegations that Ford (F) came up with a scheme to avoid paying higher duties by misclassifying cargo vans.
The government had alleged that from April 2009 to March 2013, Ford (F) imported Transit Connect cargo vans from Turkey into the U.S. and presented them to U.S. Customs and Border Protection with sham rear seats and other temporary features to make the vans appear to be passenger vehicles.
“This settlement, which is one of the largest customs penalty settlements in recent history, demonstrates that U.S. Customs and Border Protection will pursue even the largest companies to ensure that all importers follow the rules; our intent is to enforce the customs laws fairly, which means that non-compliance is not an option for anyone,” said Senior Official Performing Duties of the Commissioner, CBP, Troy Miller.
