Photo of Simeon Yerokun

imeon Yerokun is a counsel in Crowell & Moring’s International Trade group and based in the firm's Washington, D.C. office. He advises clients on all areas of import regulatory compliance, trade remedies, and international trade litigation.

Simeon has extensive experience counseling companies in the areas of business and human rights law, including compliance with global anti-forced labor and human rights requirements. He regularly represents companies before U.S. government agencies on forced labor-related matters, including securing the release of goods detained and seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. He also offers deep experience assisting companies in mapping their supply chains, including linking imported products back to their raw materials using enterprise software and other inventory management audit tools. Simeon is highly accomplished in forced labor supply chain mapping and risk assessments, as well as verifying due diligence efforts with on-the-ground visits to client facilities, incorporating third-party intelligence and audit resources.

Simeon’s experience also covers a broad spectrum of trade and customs issues, including those related to import regulatory compliance matters such as valuation, classification, duty drawback, marking and labeling, entry procedures, and penalties; free trade agreements; antidumping and countervailing duty issues; trade litigation; intellectual property issues such as trademark and copyright infringement; the enforcement of exclusion orders issued by the International Trade Commission (ITC); steel and aluminum tariffs under the Section 232 National Security Investigation; and the additional tariffs on products from China under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974.

Additionally, Simeon handles antidumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) investigations before the U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration (ITA) and the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) under the Tariff Act of 1930, and litigation involving the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT).

Prior to joining Crowell, Simeon was a trade and finance attorney in the Office of Chief Counsel—U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and before that, he served as counsel to Commissioner Irving A. Williamson at the U.S. International Trade Commission.

Simeon is a proud graduate of Howard University School of Law, where he served as technical editor of the school’s Human Rights and Globalization Law Review.

On December 10th, 2025 the US Trade Representative released the results of the Section 301 investigation initiated in December 2024 into Nicaragua’s alleged violations of labor rights, human rights and the rule of law protections. The investigation detailed extensive infringement of labor and human rights in addition to increasingly authoritative restrictions of individual

Camel Energy, a Michigan-based importer of lead-acid batteries, has recently filed a complaint at the Court of International Trade (CIT) contesting U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) two recent exclusions of its shipments. CBP excluded these entries due to “suspicion of being made with forced labor and subject to the UFLPA.” Camel Energy maintains that

On September 23, 2025, the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) issued an opinion vacating and remanding U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s forced labor Finding against Kingtom Aluminio S.R.L., a Dominican Republic-based aluminum extruder. The court found that CBP’s determination, which prohibited the entry of Kingtom’s aluminum extrusions under Section 307 of the Tariff Act

On June 23, 2025, the Ninth Circuit issued a long-awaited decision in Island Industries Inc. v. Sigma Corp. affirming a $26M False Claims Act (“FCA”) judgment against the defendant importer.  Sigma had appealed the judgment after a jury found the company violated the FCA by failing to pay customs duties owed to U.S. Customs

On June 20, 2025, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) deployed its new Forced Labor Allegations Portal, which allows users to submit allegations of forced labor. The new portal replaces CBP’s Trade Violations Reporting (“TVR”) system for submitting forced labor allegations, and complaints can be submitted anonymously by trade users. Users are also able

In this episode, Crowell’s hosts Agustin Orozco and Jason Crawford speak with Crowell attorneys Simeon Yerokun and Katherine Quinn about DOJ’s plan to aggressively use the FCA against illegal foreign trade practices. This episode includes discussion of common areas of FCA enforcement in cases involving allegations of customs fraud, and the hosts address steps that

In a recently published Bloomberg Law article, “Aggressive FCA Enforcement in Customs Calls for Compliance Review,” Crowell’s Agustin Orozco, Jason Crawford, and Katherine Quinn discuss how importers face increased risk of False Claims Act enforcement as the Department of Justice focuses on illegal foreign trade practices. The article explains how FCA liability arises in the

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking concerning the de minimis exemption under 19 U.S.C. § 1321 (Section 321).  Currently, the de minimis exemption allows goods with an aggregate value under $800 to enter the U.S. duty-free and via an expedited process.  The proposed amendment is intended to stem the