CHICAGO: In a rare US Department of Justice press conference in Illinois on Tuesday, officials showcased the recovery in less than a year of more than $1 billion by the Trade Fraud Task Force, the creation of which in August 2025 was spearheaded by prosecutions in 2008 by Andrew Boutros, shortly after he became assistant US attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.
In April 2025, Boutros, an Egyptian American, was appointed US attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, but has faced intense criticism for his handling of the office, including allegations of improper crackdowns on people who entered the country illegally, and manipulation of grand juries to exclude unfavorable selections.
During Tuesday’s press conference, Colin McDonald, assistant US attorney general for the Fraud Enforcement Division, credited Boutros with making the largest financial recoveries and securing indictments under a crackdown originally known as “Operation Gold Rush,” which involved suspects and trade products originating from India and the UAE.
“The case that propelled us past the $1 billion-dollar milestone was brought right here in Chicago,” McDonald said, once again crediting Boutros.
“Defendants Raj and Veena Kohli allegedly smuggled huge amounts of gold jewelry into the United States and systematically lied to customs officials about the origin of the jewelry. These alleged lies allowed these defendants to evade more than $38 million in duties, undercutting domestic manufacturers and denying funding to vital public services.
“Our actions prove our resolve to police the entire supply chain.”
The Kohlis run Surya International Inc., an importer and wholesaler of gold jewelry in South San Francisco, California.
Matthew Millhollin, acting deputy executive associate director for investigations in the Department of Homeland Security, said the alleged gold-trade fraud involved jewelry worth nearly $700 million, and involved the falsification of records submitted to US Customs and Border Protection that said the gold was manufactured in Oman, depriving the US of more than $38 million in customs duty payments.
“As a result of Homeland Security Investigation’s efforts, more than $20 million in gold jewelry, gold bars and US currency were seized,” Millhollin added.
“Tariff evasion is one of the most significant crimes we pursue in this all-of-government approach. These fees are designed to protect American businesses from unfair foreign competition. Evasion schemes such as transshipment through third countries, creation of shell companies, and falsification of import documentation undermine US trade enforcement.”
Boutros did not address the controversies that have plagued his term in office over the past year, but said his fraud-related cases became the foundation for creation of the Trade Fraud Task Force.
An initial case involved “foreign nationals” who, after a long investigation, were convicted, he said, and as a result “Chicago became the birthplace of customs and trade fraud prosecutions in the modern era.”
He added: “The investigation involved the importation and sale of falsely declared and adulterated honey, flooding our markets from China. Crucially, the honey contained chloramphenicol, a severely restricted antibiotic for humans that was fed to bees when they were dying in large quantities due to a condition known as colony collapse.
“I reviewed the search warrant and told the agent to come back when he had more evidence.”
Regarding the subsequent prosecutions of suspects as a result of Operation Gold Rush, he said: “Over the next several years, we charged 27 corporate and individual defendants across 10 cases in this multi-phase investigation.
“We tackled both the supply side and the demand side of the criminal activity and arrested and prosecuted criminal actors up and down the supply chain, overseas suppliers, customs brokers, commercial brokers, transporters, wholesale buyers, packers and others.”
Boutros thanked President Donald Trump for his support, and added: “Under my watch, I can assure you that the Chicago US Attorney’s Office is resolutely committed to holding parties accountable for their fraudulent schemes in trade or customs fraud, forced labor, slave labor and child-labor practices, and other adjacent crimes.
“We are proud to stand with the Department of Justice, the Department of Justice’s National Fraud Enforcement Division, the Global Trade and Commerce Enforcement Section, and our many agency partners as the lead prosecutorial partner of the Trade Fraud Task Force.”
In 2015, Boutros secured a conviction of the largest drugs trafficker on the dark web Silk Road site, described at the time as the most sophisticated and extensive online criminal marketplace of its kind.
But since his appointment to the top job in April last year, Boutros has been criticized by both of the US senators from Illinois, Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth, who demanded his resignation after a federal judge found “serious irregularities” in grand jury proceedings involving six protesters arrested during immigration-related demonstrations near the state’s ICE facility in the village of Broadview.
A letter signed by 111 former US attorneys accused Boutros of “tarnishing” the reputation of his office.
His defenders denounced it as a move by Democrats opposed to Trump and his appointees. Boutros previously responded by saying that he “fixed” problems in the office that originated under his predecessors.
