Glittering Deception: UBS Gold Indicted in Massive $86 Million Tariff Evasion Scheme
In the high-stakes world of international jewelry trade, a glittering façade often hides a complex web of logistics and regulation. However, federal prosecutors allege that for one Indonesian giant, that web was nothing more than a criminal mechanism designed to defraud the United States government.
The Indictment: Unraveling a Billion-Dollar Supply Chain
According to a criminal complaint filed in New Jersey federal court on November 15, 2025, the massive fraud operation spanned nearly five years, from 2021 to late 2025. The scheme allegedly utilized a network of shell companies, falsified documents, and international shipping routes to disguise the true origin of Indonesian-made jewelry.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Jersey identified three key individuals at the heart of the alleged conspiracy:
- Michael Yahya, a co-owner of UBS Gold and Indonesian national, who allegedly directed the scheme from abroad.
- Icha Anastasia, a senior account executive and Indonesian national responsible for managing U.S. client relations.
- Claudio Fogale, an Italian citizen and UBS employee who serviced the company’s U.S. customer base.
- The legal fallout was swift. On November 12, federal agents arrested Anastasia and Fogale, detaining them pending trial. Michael Yahya, however, remains at large, believed to be residing in Indonesia, beyond the immediate reach of U.S. law enforcement. All three face charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, a serious felony that carries a potential maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
The Geopolitical Trigger: The End of Duty-Free Status
To understand the motive behind this alleged crime, one must look at the shifting sands of international trade policy. For decades, Indonesia benefited from the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), a U.S. trade program designed to promote economic growth in developing nations by allowing duty-free entry for thousands of products, including gold jewelry.
However, that privilege came to an abrupt halt on December 31, 2020, when Indonesia’s GSP status for these goods expired. Suddenly, jewelry that had once entered the U.S. tax-free was subject to significant import duties.
According to the DOJ complaint, UBS Gold was unwilling to absorb these new costs or pass them on to customers. Instead of complying with the new tax regime, the defendants allegedly devised a “transshipment” strategy to bypass the tariffs entirely. Their solution lay thousands of miles away from Jakarta, in the Middle Eastern kingdom of Jordan.
Scheme 1: The Jordanian Loophole
The indictment details how UBS Gold allegedly exploited the U.S.-Jordan Free Trade Agreement (FTA). Unlike Indonesia, Jordan enjoys a robust trade pact with the United States that allows qualifying goods to enter the U.S. duty-free.
Prosecutors allege that UBS Gold began shipping finished jewelry manufactured in their Indonesian factories to Jordan. Once the goods arrived, they were not substantially transformed or processed—a requirement for goods to legally qualify as “Jordanian” under the FTA. Instead, the jewelry was simply re-packaged and re-labeled.
The defendants then exported these shipments to the United States, accompanied by fraudulent paperwork declaring the country of origin as “Jordan.” By laundering the jewelry’s nationality through a third-party country, UBS Gold effectively nullified the tariffs owed on Indonesian goods.
Understanding “Substantial Transformation”
Under the strict “Rules of Origin” governing the U.S.-Jordan FTA, merely passing goods through a country does not confer origin status. For a product to qualify as Jordanian, it must undergo a “substantial transformation” in Jordan—meaning a fundamental change in form, appearance, or character that adds significant value (typically at least 35% of the appraised value).
The DOJ alleges that UBS Gold’s operations in Jordan were a sham designed solely to generate a paper trail, with no meaningful manufacturing taking place in the Middle East.
Scheme 2: The “Scrap Gold” Switcheroo
As U.S. trade policy became more protectionist in 2024 and 2025, with broader tariffs levied on various trading partners, the defendants allegedly evolved their tactics. The complaint outlines a second, even more audacious scheme involving the manipulation of U.S. exports.
In this iteration of the fraud, the defendants allegedly shipped “scrap gold” from the United States to Jordan. They claimed this gold was raw material intended to be fashioned into jewelry and then returned to the U.S. If true, this would have allowed the re-imported goods to qualify for preferential treatment as products of the U.S. returned after processing.
However, prosecutors say the “processing” was a lie.
“Instead, the defendants swapped the scrap gold for UBS Gold jewelry made in Indonesia, which they then shipped from Jordan to the United States,” the complaint states. “The defendants falsely claimed that the jewelry had been manufactured in the United States , so they could avoid paying the tariffs that would otherwise apply.”
By claiming the finished jewelry was essentially recycled U.S. gold, UBS Gold allegedly misled Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers, evading millions in duties.
The Brooklyn Raid: A $13 Million Seizure
The investigation, which utilized data analytics and intelligence sharing between agencies, culminated in a physical crackdown. A press release from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), issued shortly after the arrests, detailed a massive seizure that appears directly linked to the UBS Gold investigation.
Federal agents executed a search warrant at a commercial facility in Brooklyn, New York, as well as intercepting an outbound shipment. The result was the confiscation of approximately $13.36 million in gold.
This physical seizure represents only a fraction of the total volume of trade involved. The DOJ estimates that between 2021 and 2025, the scheme allowed UBS Gold and its extensive network of U.S. customers to avoid paying $86.5 million in lawful duties.
A New Era of High-Tech Trade Enforcement
Legal experts view the UBS Gold indictment not as an isolated incident, but as a bellwether for a new era of aggressive trade enforcement. The U.S. government has increasingly signaled that tariffs are a central pillar of its economic policy, and enforcing them is a national security priority.
Joshua Kurland, a partner at the international law firm Hogan Lovells and a former Justice Department official specializing in trade fraud, believes this case is a warning shot to the industry.
“This area of trade enforcement was already on the increase,” Kurland told industry publication JCK. “But now that tariffs have become the central economic policy of this administration, that adds rocket fuel to that enforcement. This is a good example of what criminal trade enforcement may look like.”
The Role of the Trade Fraud Task Force
The indictment comes on the heels of the formation of the interagency Trade Fraud Task Force in August 2025. This collaboration between the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was designed specifically to crack down on illicit trade practices like transshipment and evasion.
Crucially, the government is no longer relying solely on manual inspections. The prompt involvement of companies like Exiger, an AI-based supply chain risk management firm, indicates that CBP is leveraging artificial intelligence to map complex supply chains. By analyzing shipping patterns, weight discrepancies, and financial data, AI tools can flag anomalies—such as a sudden surge in gold “manufacturing” in a country like Jordan that lacks the industrial capacity to match the output—triggering investigations long before a container is opened.
Impact on the Global Jewelry Market
The charges against UBS Gold are likely to have a chilling effect on the global jewelry trade. Importers who previously relied on “don’t ask, don’t tell” policies regarding the origin of their goods are now on notice that ignorance is not a defense against wire fraud conspiracy charges.
For U.S. retailers and wholesalers, the case underscores the critical importance of Know Your Supplier (KYS) protocols. As the UBS case demonstrates, the government is willing to pursue not just the foreign manufacturer, but also the domestic networks that facilitate the evasion.
What’s Next for the Defendants?
As of late November, Icha Anastasia and Claudio Fogale remain in U.S. federal custody. Their defense attorneys have not yet issued public comments. Meanwhile, the U.S. government is likely coordinating with Indonesian authorities regarding the status of Michael Yahya.
While the wheels of justice turn, the message to the market is clear: The U.S. border is becoming a digital fortress, and the price of trying to smuggle gold through the cracks is getting higher by the day.
