London Bridge Trading Company was founded in November 1985 by Doug McDougal after leaving his career as a professor at
Eastern Virginia Medical School in
Norfolk, Virginia. In 2023 the company was accused in the
United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio of deliberately deceiving their customers in breach of the
Buy American Act, the
Trade Agreements Act and the
Berry Amendment, after the company falsely claimed that more than one of its products were made in the US, and sold them to the
US Department of Defense. In November 2023, the company settled with the
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for $2.1 million over one of these falsely labeled product lines. The company had replaced foreign country of origin labels with labels purporting that the product was made in the US. After the settlement, in Dec 2023, LBT was acquired by Survitec Group, a private equity-backed organization that also owns: RFD, SurvitecZodiac, DSB, RFD Toyo, Elliot, Maritime Protection, Novenco Fire Fighting, Crewsaver, Yak, Eurovinil, Helippe, and Biardo Survival Suits ==References==