The Justice Department states that a Miami Beach man, Enrique Gomez De Molina, who used various wildlife parts in taxidermy pieces that were offered for sale on the Internet, through galleries, and shows, has been charged in a criminal Information for knowingly transporting, possessing, and selling wildlife with a value greater than $350 in violation of the Lacey Act. If convicted, the defendant faces a possible maximum term of imprisonment of up to five years, criminal fines of up to $250,000, and a period of supervised release of up to three years. In addition, all specimens of wildlife trafficked in violation of the Lacey Act are subject to forfeiture.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida has announced that Elias Garcia and Maria Plancarte have pled guilty to charges of conspiring to violate the federal Lacey Act by smuggling jaguar skins from Mexico and trafficking in them in the U.S. The jaguar is listed as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act. Under cover of a plant seed company Garcia and Plancarte jointly operated, they sold two jaguar pelts to undercover Fish and Wildlife Service agents and planned a future sale of up to 10 jaguar pelts to be smuggled into the U.S. from Mexico. Their sentencing is scheduled for March 2012, where each defendant faces a five year prison term, a criminal fine of up to $250,000, and a period of up to three years of supervised release.
The Justice Department has announced that GEM Manufacturing LLC of the U.S. Virgin Islands, a manufacturer of high-end jewelry, art, and sculpture items, was sentenced to pay a criminal fine of $1.8 million for knowingly trading in falsely-labeled, protected black coral that was shipped into the U.S. in violation of the Endangered Species Act and the Lacey Act. When combined with another fine for community service work and forfeiture of items worth $2.17 million, the aggregate financial penalty of $4.47 million makes this the largest for the illegal trade in coral, the largest non-seafood wildlife trafficking financial penalty and the fourth largest for any U.S. case involving the illegal trade of wildlife.
On October 14, 2011, Representative Cooper (D-TN) introduced H.R. 3210, the Retailers and Entertainers Lacey Implementation and Enforcement Fairness (RELIEF) Act. If enacted, the bill would amend the Lacey Act to exempt its application to pre-2008 plant imports and products. It would also reduce declaration requirements for tree products, require a certification process for legal plants and products, require adequate funding for the processing of declarations, etc.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Texas has announced that Loren Willis from Florida, has been convicted for his part in a conspiracy to violate the Lacey Act. According to court information, in September 2010, Willis and one of his co-defendants traveled from Florida to Texas to harvest alligator gar for the purpose of selling the fish domestically and in Japan. Willis' co-defendant has pleaded guilty to altering documentation submitted to the Fish and Wildlife Service to reflect that the fish were captive bred (which does not require inspection prior to export) rather than harvested in the wild.
Officials at the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service state that after a paper Lacey Act Declaration (PPQ 505) for imported plants and plant products is submitted to APHIS, it must be retained by the importer of record or filer for a five year period. There is no similar requirement of importers of record/entry filers for the electronic Lacey Act Declaration submitted to APHIS via U.S. Customs and Border Protection's ABI system, as CBP itself will fulfill the five-year record retention requirement.
On October 12, 2011 the following bills were introduced:
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted an updated draft ACE Customs and Trade Automated Interface Requirements (CATAIR) Chapter on Participating Goverment Agencies, which is referred to by ITDS as a "draft implementation guide." In addition, a related Appendix T containing the associated Code Tables (the codes and qualifiers for the PGA Message Set) has also been posted. The codes in Appendix T include those for the Lacey Act, Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), as well as Food and Drug Affirmation of Compliance Codes.
The Justice Department has announced that on October 3, 2011, Richard Ertel of Virginia pleaded guilty to two felony violations of the Lacey Act by illegally importing and illegal trafficking sperm whale teeth. As part of the plea, Ertel admitted that from April 2002 to June 2007, he was in the business of buying and selling sperm whale teeth that he purchased from sources in the Ukraine, and then sold to customers in Virginia and elsewhere in the U.S. He admitted to conducting much of his business via the Internet. Ertel could be sentenced up to five years in prison and fined up to $250,000 for each count. Sentencing is scheduled for January 2012.
Broker Power is providing readers with some of the top stories for September 19-23, 2011 in case they were missed last week.