2 Denver Companies Allegedly Sold Chinese Forklifts to Defense Department as 'American-Made' to Dodge Tariffs

Forklifts sold to military as 'made in USA' were actually from China, feds say

Three men allegedly swapped factory labels on Chinese forklifts before selling them to the Navy, Army, and Air Force as American-made.

2 Denver companies allegedly sold Chinese forklifts to Defense Department as 'American-made' to dodge tariffs

Denver companies indicted in $1 million tariff evasion scheme to sell U.S. government Chinese forklifts as American-made

Two Denver-area companies and the companies’ top executives were indicted in connection with a scheme to evade tariffs by misrepresenting Chinese-made forklifts as American-made. Endless Sales Inc. (Endless), Octane Forklifts, Inc. (Octane), current executives Brian Firkins and Jeffrey Blasdel, and former executive J.R. Antczak were each indicted on charges of conspiring to commit wire fraud on August 21, 2025, by a federal grand jury in Denver,…