In a regulatory filing Lumber Liquidators says the Justice Department is now seeking criminal charges as part of an ongoing investigation over imported products.
The company is also dealing with fallout from a 60 Minutes report which said its laminate flooring made in China had high levels of formaldehyde, a known cancer-causing chemical.
Lumber Liquidators insists its floors are safe.
The 60 Minutes report cited lab tests performed for an environmental and consumer protection nonprofit that found some samples of laminate flooring contained very high levels of the chemical.
Some pieces had six to seven times the level of formaldehyde allowed under California law, according to environmental attorney Richard Drury, who was interviewed by ’60 Minutes.’ Others had 20 times the limit.
A doctor told CBS long-term exposure to chemicals at those levels “would increase the risk for chronic respiratory irritation, change in a person’s lung function, increased risk of asthma” and be especially dangerous for children.
The suspect flooring is in “hundreds of thousands” of homes nationwide, according to Drury.
Lumber Liquidators’ products have long been viewed skeptically by environmentalists. It has been accused of illegally sourcing wood, and those accusations may be behind a 2013 raid on its headquarters.
Lumber Liquidators has 352 stores in the U.S. and Canada. The company’s sales fell 12 percent in the first three months of the year.
