Williams-Sonoma Fined $3.17 Million for False ‘Made in USA’ Claims, Largest Penalty for Made-in-USA Fraud

Williams-Sonoma has been ordered to pay a fine of $3.17 million in civil penalties for falsely claiming that its products were made in the USA when they actually originated from China, according to a joint press release by the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Friday. FTC Chair Lina M. Khan stated: “Williams-Sonoma claimed its products were made in the United States even though they were made in China. Williams-Sonoma’s deception misled consumers and harmed honest American businesses.” The fine is said to be a record settlement for Made-in-USA fraud, as Khan further explained: “Today’s record-setting civil penalty makes clear that firms committing Made-in-USA fraud will not get a free pass.”
The Justice Department and FTC alleged that Williams-Sonoma Inc., the parent company of several high-end kitchen store brands including Pottery Barn, West Elm, Rejuvenation, Goldtouch and PBTeen violated the terms set out by an earlier 2020 FTC order which required the retailer to accurately label their products’ manufacturing.
Apart from paying up a considerable amount for penalties imposed in the present case, Williams-Sonoma Inc is also bound under the latest settlement to confess that it had previously lied about its product’s origin of manufacture and maintain records regarding future reporting requirements by government agencies concerning such matters. The fine was levied after FTC sued William-Sonoma last year for allegedly misleading customers in regard to the place where some of their products were made under brands like Goldtouch, Rejuvenation, Pottery Barn Teen and Pottery Barn Kids.
The Justice Department’s Civil Division and the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection handled this case with assistance from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).