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6Aug12 Gibson Guitar Settles with U.S. Justice Department Over Illegal Imports

WASHINGTON - Gibson Guitar Corp. will not face prosecution for violating the Lacey Act and has instead entered into a criminal enforcement agreement with the United States. The guitar maker has also agreed to pay a $300,000 fine.

The agreement was announced Aug. 6 by Assistant Attorney General Ignacia S. Moreno of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, Jerry Martin, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee and Dan Ashe, Director of the Department of the Interior’s U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Gibson also agrees to “commit no future violations of the law, including Lacey Act violations.”

Gibson Guitar was charged with illegally purchasing and importing ebony wood from Madagascar as well as rosewood and ebony from India. Gibson’s plants were raided in November 2009 and more recently in August 2011, the latter setting off public outcry for and against amending the Lacey Act.

As part of the agreement the company now admits it, among other things, it knowingly purchased four shipments of fingerboard blanks made from Madagascar ebony between October 2008 and September 2009, which was a direct violation of Madagascar’s ban on the unfinished wood, in place since 2006.

According to the Department of Justice, Gibson will pay a fine of $300,000, plus an additional “community service payment of $50,000 to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to promote the conservation, identification and propagation of protected tree species used in the musical instrument industry and the forests where those species are found.” Gibson also agreed to strengthen its environmental compliance policy, and to withdraw all claims to the wood seized in the earlier raids, including the Madagascar ebony.

“As a result of this investigation and criminal enforcement agreement, Gibson has acknowledged that it failed to act on information that the Madagascar ebony it was purchasing may have violated laws intended to limit overharvesting and conserve valuable wood species from Madagascar, a country which has been severely impacted by deforestation,” Assistant Attorney General Moreno said in a statement. “Gibson has ceased acquisitions of wood species from Madagascar and recognizes its duty under the U.S. Lacey Act to guard against the acquisition of wood of illegal origin by verifying the circumstances of its harvest and export, which is good for American business and American consumers.”

“This criminal enforcement agreement goes a long way in demonstrating the government’s commitment to protecting the world’s natural resources. The agreement is fair and just in that it assesses serious penalties for Gibson’s behavior while allowing Gibson to continue to focus on the business of making guitars,” U.S. Attorney Martin also said in the statement.

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