The U.S. has filed a slew of criminal indictments aimed at U.S. companies engaged in the trade of shark fins to show how they take advantage of federal and state laws to engage in the practice, The Associated Press reported. For instance, a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida accuses Elite Sky International -- a Florida-based exporter -- of falsely labeling around 5,666 pounds of shark fins meant for China as live Florida spiny lobsters.
Lacey Act
The Lacey Act and subsequent amendments make it unlawful to import, export, transport, sell, receive, or acquire any plant, fish or wildlife obtained in violation of U.S., tribal or foreign law, as well as any injurious wildlife. The law is administered by the Fish and Wildlife Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and CBP. APHIS has been implementing Lacey Act declaration requirements since 2009. Lacey Act declarations may be filed by the importer of record or its licensed customs broker, and include information on imported item's species name, value, quantity, and country where it was harvested.
Herdade Lokua and Jospin Mujangi, citizens of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington to trafficking wildlife from the DRC to Seattle, DOJ announced. The pair admitted to conspiracy and Lacey Act violations by smuggling elephant ivory, white rhinoceros horn and pangolin scales to the U.S.
Nathan Horton, a Georgia resident, was sentenced to one year and a day in prison for illegally trapping and exporting thousands of freshwater turtles in Georgia, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia announced. Horton's actions were found to be in violation of the Lacey Act -- the statute that makes it illegal to knowingly export wildlife that has been illegally collected in violation of state law. From 2015 to 2017, Horton captured thousands of freshwater turtles via turtle nets -- an illegal article under Georgia state law -- shipping the turtles from Georgia to California. The ultimate destination of the turtles was Asia, and the operation netted Horton over $150,000, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. In addition to the yearlong sentence, Horton will serve three years of supervised release and will pay a $10,000 fine. The defendant also will have to complete 200 hours of community service and is banned from trapping turtles and other wildlife for the entire term of his supervised release.
Seafood distributor American Eel Depot Corp. of Totowa, New Jersey, and eight of its employees were indicted by the DOJ Environment and Natural Resources Division for trafficking in large amounts of European eels, DOJ announced. April 29. The nine defendants are charged with smuggling, violating the Lacey Act, which bans trafficking in illegally possessed fish and wildlife, and conspiracy to violate the Endangered Species Act. Each defendant faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 or $500,000 for the American Eel Depot, or twice the financial gain or the financial loss to another, whichever is greater.
Corporations need be careful and exercise due care when establishing their supply chains, said Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim while speaking Dec. 14 at the American Bar Association's National Environmental Enforcement Conference's Section on Environment, Energy and Resources. Kim discussed the DOJ's enforcement approach and mentioned the Lacey Act as an example. "If a corporate supply chain originates from a criminally-tainted source, then my division will consider the criminal responsibility of all parts of that supply chain," Kim said. "A corporation seeking credit for cooperation will need to identify all individuals involved in misconduct, including individuals outside the company in a supply chain. ... A corporation would be well advised to protect itself and its investments by exercising due care over its supply chain in light of the prospect of criminal sanction; the potential seizure and forfeiture of illegally-sourced timber, goods, vessels and other equipment; and the unavailability of an innocent owner defense."
Herdade Lokua and Jospin Mujangi, both of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, were arrested and indicted for trafficking elephant ivory and white rhinoceros horn from the Congo to Seattle, the Department of Justice said. The pair allegedly worked with a middleman to bring in four packages that contained the ivory and rhinoceros horn. All four were sent via air freight, with three arriving in August and September 2020, and the remaining one in May 2021. Lokua and Mujangi also conspired to send large packages via ocean freight. The shipments in this scheme allegedly included elephant ivory, pangolin scales and rhinoceros horns. The pair cut the tusks and horn into smaller pieces that were painted black to avoid detection. The parts were mixed with ebony wood and declared as "wood" with values of $50-$60, DOJ said. The duo also allegedly paid bribes to local authorities in Kinshasa, the city where they live, to get the goods out of the Congo. Lokua and Mujangi now stand accused of conspiracy, money laundering, smuggling and Lacey Act violations, facing a maximum of 20 years in prison for the smuggling and money laundering charges and five years for the Lacey Act and conspiracy violations.
Global Plywood and Lumber Trading LLC was sentenced to pay $200,000 in restitution to Peru's Ministry of Environment after pleading guilty in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the Department of Justice said. The company admitted to importing illegally sourced timber from the Peruvian Amazon, in violation of the Lacey Act. The court also ordered the company to pay a $5,000 fine. In 2015, Global Plywood bought around 1,135 cubic meters of hardwood blanks from three suppliers in Peru, which then arrived at the Port of Houston, where it was seized by CBP (see 1606090042). In its guilty plea, Global Plywood admitted not obtaining or reviewing relevant harvest permits or Forest Travel Guides from SIGO, an open-source website run by the Peruvian government; failing to check SIGO for irregularities connected with its purchased timber; and relying on suppliers' statements without conducting due diligence, DOJ said. Global Plywood dissolved in 2017, forfeiting the illegal timber after civil action commenced.