Jeweler Temple St. Clair Settles Customs Fraud Case for $796,000 (1)

Jewelry retailer Temple St. Clair agreed to pay the U.S. government $796,000 to settle allegations of customs violations leveled by Johanna Olarte, a former inventory manager at the company.

Of that amount, Olarte will receive $143,280, minus an undisclosed contingency fee for her lawyers, Sanford Heisler Sharp LLP, the law firm representing Olarte, told Bloomberg Law June 26 in an email.

The whistleblower lawsuit, filed under the False Claims Act in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in 2015, alleged Temple St. Clair mismarked the country of origin of its merchandise and smuggled merchandise into ...