run afoul of somebody/something
From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishrun afoul of somebody/somethingrun afoul of somebody/somethingPROBLEM formal to do something that is not allowed or legal, or that is against people’s beliefs → afoulExamples from the Corpusrun afoul of somebody/something• Burgess' illegal use of alcohol ran afoul of the code, a point the righteous Karnaugh was quite eager to make.• Here I simply introduce them to you and describe how Iberian managers ran afoul of them. 1.• Two men died and two boys were seriously injured as vehicles ran afoul of washed-out roads.