Federal enforcement against duty evasion on imported kitchen cabinets and vanities has accelerated over the past year, with the Justice Department, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and Homeland Security Investigations bringing a string of cases involving transshipment, undervaluation, mis- manifesting, and fraudulent broker conduct. Below are five recent actions — spanning criminal indictment, civil penalty, and administrative enforcement — that illustrate how aggressively the government is now policing antidumping and countervailing duty (AD/CVD) orders on wooden cabinets and vanities from China.
EAPA Case 8137: Island Home Building Materials
In May 2025, CBP initiated an Enforce and Protect Act (EAPA) investigation into Island Home Building Materials, Inc., finding reasonable suspicion that the company had entered wooden cabinets and vanities from China without declaring them subject to existing AD/CVD orders. The investigation examined allegations that Island Home transshipped the merchandise through Taiwan to disguise its Chinese origin. CBP issued its notice of determination on October 30, 2025, finding substantial evidence of evasion.
CBP Notice of Initiation, EAPA Case 8137 (May 6, 2025)
Island Home Building Materials, Inc. (Notice of Determination as to Evasion, October 30, 2025)
DOJ Indictment: $109 Million Scheme Involving Cabinets, Quartz, and Tile
In December 2025, a federal grand jury in the Northern District of California indicted two Bay Area businessmen, a Chinese national, and three companies — including Uni-Tile & Marble, Inc. and Uni-Stone & Cabinet, Inc. — for allegedly evading more than $109 million in AD/CVD duties on wooden cabinets and vanities, quartz surface products, and ceramic tile from China. Prosecutors allege the scheme, which ran from 2018 to 2023 and covered roughly 520 shipments, relied on transshipment through Malaysia, shell companies used as nominal importers of record, and false entry documentation filed by a licensed customs broker among the defendants. CBP separately issued a $222.5 million pre-penalty notice against one of the companies and its principal. The defendants face charges including conspiracy, wire fraud, smuggling, and international money laundering.
DOJ press release (December 18, 2025)
CBP Atlanta: $9.3 Million Recovered, Including a Stolen Identity
CBP's Atlanta Field Office recovered $9.3 million after uncovering a tariff evasion scheme tied to kitchen cabinet imports. According to CBP, the case involved transshipment, undervaluation, and broker misconduct — including the use of a stolen identity — across 56 shipments tied to a single violator.
Norfolk: $123,554 in Mismanifested Cabinets Seized
CBP officers in Norfolk seized a shipment of clandestinely imported kitchen cabinets from China after discovering that a container manifested as containing 10 cabinets (declared value: $500) and 691 unrelated items — including metal ornaments and storage boxes — actually held 781 cartons of kitchen cabinets, appraised at $123,554. The shipment, destined for an address in Los Angeles, was deliberately mismanifested and undervalued to evade customs officials and applicable duties.
CBP local media release, Norfolk
A Record $1 Billion in Duty Evasion Uncovered Nationwide
On July 29, 2026, CBP announced it had uncovered more than $1 billion in additional duties owed under EAPA — a first in the program's ten-year history and roughly 300% above its annual average. The agency issued 14 notices of determination in 2026 covering products ranging from solar cells and lumber to metal lockers and wooden furniture, with investigators traveling to Mexico, Thailand, India, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom to verify production. While the milestone spans many product categories, it underscores the broader enforcement climate in which the cabinet-specific cases above are unfolding.
CBP national media release (July 29, 2026)
The Takeaway
Taken together, these five cases show enforcement agencies pursuing duty evasion on wooden cabinets and vanities through every available channel — criminal indictment, EAPA administrative proceedings, and routine port-of-entry inspection — and recovering real money in the process. For an industry that has spent years pressing for stronger enforcement of AD/CVD orders on Chinese-made cabinets, the pattern is a meaningful signal that the government is following through. We will continue monitoring for additional enforcement actions and will share updates as they develop.
This should send a strong message to importers, as well as to those who purchase kitchen and bath cabinetry and component parts, that these criminal activities carry real consequences. No one in the supply chain is immune from enforcement, or from the significant fines, penalties, and potential criminal liability that can result.
