EPPO seizes €2.4m linked to a French import-company suspected of customs fraud on shoes from China

French authorities — acting at EPPO’s request — ordered seizure of about €1.9 million in real estate and froze nearly €550,000 of bank assets belonging to the trading company and its managers, who are under investigation for customs fraud, money-laundering and participation in a criminal organisation. The companies allegedly undervalued goods on more than 440 import declarations between 2018 and 2024, avoiding an estimated €6.5 million in customs duties and import VAT on roughly €21 million worth of goods bought from China and sold across the EU.