Gibson CEO: US Government Won't Even Tell Us What Law They Think We've Violated
from the of-course-not,-they're-suing-the-wood dept
We recently wrote about the bizarre Justice Department raids of Gibson Guitar over some questions on the provenance of the wood. Gibson's CEO is now lashing out at the US government for refusing to even say what law was broken:The raids forced Gibson to cease manufacturing operations and send workers home for the day while armed agents executed the search warrants. �Agents seized wood that was Forest Stewardship Council controlled,� Juszkiewicz said. �Gibson has a long history of supporting sustainable and responsible sources of wood and has worked diligently with entities such as the Rainforest Alliance and Greenpeace to secure FSC-certified supplies. The wood seized on August 24 satisfied FSC standards.�Now, remember, we noted in the earlier story that a similar raid a few years ago resulted in the feds filing charges against the wood specifically -- and not the company: United States of America v. Ebony Wood in Various Forms. If this all sounds familiar, it's quite similar to what we've seen with the feds seizing domain names. These involve "in rem" claims against property, as opposed to "in personam" claims against people or organizations. We've long been troubled by general seizure and forfeiture law in the US, which basically seems like a license for the US government to, at best, bully and at worst, steal from, anyone they don't like. So just as the US government is now claiming that it's not charging Puerto 80 with anything as it tries to keep its domains, the same thing appears to be happening here. The feds never actually accuse Gibson of violating any laws. They just say the wood is illegal and seize it.
Juszkiewicz believes that the Justice Department is bullying Gibson without filing charges.
�The Federal Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. has suggested that the use of wood from India that is not finished by Indian workers is illegal, not because of U.S. law, but because it is the Justice Department�s interpretation of a law in India. (If the same wood from the same tree was finished by Indian workers, the material would be legal.) This action was taken without the support and consent of the government in India.�
Under seizure laws, no actual lawsuit ever needs to be filed. They can just seize, and later file for forfeiture, in which the government gets to keep what it seized. So they never actually file charges against the company, but just get to keep whatever was seized, claiming that the property itself is illegal or was used for illegal purposes. It's an amazingly Kafka-esque situation for those whose property was seized, and seems ripe for abuse. And, not surprisingly, there's a ton of evidence that law enforcement regularly abuses seizure and forfeiture laws.
Hopefully Gibson will continue to fight this, and draw some more attention to a system that really should be changed. I can understand seizure for the sake of holding onto evidence in an actual criminal trial. But outside of that, it seems difficult to justify the ability of the government to seize property and then claim it just gets to keep it, without filing any actual charges.
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Filed Under: doj, forfeiture, guitars, seizure, wood
Companies: gibson
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I seemed to have missed the part...
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Re: I seemed to have missed the part...
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Re: I seemed to have missed the part...
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Geez.
You know, steal from taxpayers to give to the rich?
Someone has to fund these seizures. Might as well be us... again.
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This must be sc-fi...
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Re: This must be sc-fi...
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Re: Re: This must be sc-fi...
Fact: We originally instated the IRS to combat the North American vampire problem. Ever since then most vampires in North America are seen in movies or Mexico.
;-P
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Re: Re: Re: This must be sc-fi...
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When, precisely, did my government become such a monster?
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Re: When?
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Re: When, precisely, did my government become such a monster?
Actually I reckon it was around the time the Allies won WWII. Our Intelligence services were allowed to do anything they wanted, so that is exactly what they did. Now they run everything. It's no different in other oppressive government.
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Another example...
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Re: Another example...
I'm not saying Gibson is guilty, but my understanding is the package was intentionally mislabeled to get the wood out of India. That would make it smuggled wood.
I'm not even saying it's a good law, but as my conservative friends always remind of how important it is for illegal aliens to respect our laws, it's probably important for Americans to respect import laws as well.
Gibson is a great American company, but smuggling for a competitive advantage isn't the answer. They should be lobbying for subsidies on American-grown ebony so they don't have to deal with these import laws.
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No matter how you look at this the justice department is not handling it in the public's best interests.
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Surprised?
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Re: Surprised?
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FTFY
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Surprised?
Ummm... no it's not.
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Hard to feel sorry for Gibson....
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Re: Hard to feel sorry for Gibson....
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Re: Re: Hard to feel sorry for Gibson....
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Re: Hard to feel sorry for Gibson....
Gibson got hit in the back of the head with a Karma boomerang.
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Was the wood doing drugs?
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er wait thats Viagra
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Gibson's new line of guitars...
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What the heck?
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Officers should be required to cite the law...
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Re: Officers should be required to cite the law...
Cop was here a few years ago saying he had a warrant for my arrest. I asked him why, he told me, reading from the warrant while also showing me. So I agreed to meet him a few days later at the court house so he could arrest me.
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letter to my representative and senators
Perhaps you have heard of the ongoing �situation� between the Justice Department and the Gibson Guitar Company. First let me state that I have no financial interest in the company. In fact I do not own a Gibson guitar nor do I play a guitar. However, as a Unites States citizen I find some very disturbing issues with this case.
According to news reports and interviews with Mr. Henry Juszkiewicz, Chairman and CEO of the company, on August 24, 2011 a fully armed SWAT team raided two of the companies factories and shut down operations. The issue appears to be related to some of the wood which the company uses in making its products. Workers were allegedly forced from the building by armed agents and later interrogated by these agents without benefit of legal council. The wood in question was apparently purchased from sources in India and had met the necessary requirements and permits from the Indian government. According to Mr. Juszkiewicz �The Federal Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. has suggested that the use of wood from India that is not finished by Indian workers is illegal, not because of U.S. law, but because it is the Justice Department�s interpretation of a law in India. (If the same wood from the same tree was finished by Indian workers, the material would be legal.) This action was taken without the support and consent of the government in India.�
This case raises several questions which I would like answered and I hope you would like answered as well.
-Why is the US Justice Department in the business of interpreting Indian law?
-Why was a SWAT raid necessary in a case which appears to involve at most an esoteric issue regarding what is a �finished product�? This raid was against FACTORY facilities of a long established American company, not crack houses.
-Why were factory workers questioned by armed agents without the presence of legal council?
-Is this action related to Gibson Guitar's suit against the government in which the company is trying to recover wood which the government confiscated in a similar raid in 2009? A case in which the government has not filed any charges?
I would have expected to read about such actions in the history of the former Soviet Union or perhaps Nazi Germany. This sort of action is unacceptable in the United States. I expect you as my Representative to keep the government on a tight leash and to require its organs to work within the limits of the Constitution.
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Re: letter to my representative and senators
AFAIK, it is. Just saying it's not copyrighted doesn't make it so, thanks to automatic copyright. Actually I don't know of any way to write something and be sure it's public domain in the US.
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Guitars for the homeless
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Re: Guitars for the homeless
If no I have to disagree, cellphones to the poor would be a matter of public utility.
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Lacey Act
Like lobster importer Abner Schoenwetter. He had never before been given so much as a parking ticket in his life, but was convicted, sentenced, and served 69 months in prison for violating the portion of the Lacey Act which makes it a felony to import fish or wildlife in violation of another country�s laws. A small percentage of his lobsters were undersized, which was a violation of a Honduran law which was later struck down by the Honduran courts as invalid *before* Schoenwetter was prosecuted by the DoJ.
So basically the DoJ charged the guy with violating a non-existent Honduran law and threw him in prison for almost 6 years for it.
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let's get the facts straight about this action
While I respect your position in the post �Gibson CEO: US Government Won�t Even Tell us What Law They Think We�ve Violated� (Sep. 2), I wanted to clarify some facts. I work for the Environmental Investigation Agency, a non-profit that has worked extensively on the problem of illegal logging and associated trade in wood products.
The law the government thinks Gibson Guitars violated was the U.S. Lacey Act. While the government has not yet released a statement to the public on the case, this fact has been stated in multiple media accounts as well as the official affidavit that was filed to obtain a search warrant for the Fish & Wildlife Service�s August 24th raid and seizure of ebony and rosewood material, guitars and guitar parts. (This affidavit is unsealed and publicly circulating. Ref: �Affidavit in Support of Search Warrant #11-MJ-1067 A,B,C,D�.)
The Lacey Act is a long-standing U.S. law that was amended most recently in 2008; it is an anti-trafficking statute which prohibits commerce of illegally-sourced wildlife, plants and wood products from either the U.S. or other countries. In this case, a judge granted the search warrant based on probable cause that Gibson imported wood that had been exported from India in violation of Indian laws. The import of illegally-sourced wood is a violation of a U.S. law.
While an export restriction may not immediately appear to be connected to illegal logging, it is by no means irrelevant. It is common for countries to have bans and restrictions on export of logs or sawnwood; these laws are directly linked to forest management and protection efforts. They are often an important tool to help control export flows of illegally logged timber, and to ensure that the benefits of value-added processing contribute to development within these often poor countries.
Enforcing the Lacey Act is not in the least an issue of undercutting US workers� rights. The law was passed precisely to change the dynamics of a global trade that was undercutting US forest producers and wood products industry to the tune of 1 billion dollars annually, according to industry�s own figures.
Like many new procedures, new laws like the 2008 Lacey Act amendments may create confusion and even fear in the short term, as companies adapt their practices and mindset. But these laws are necessary security measures for the protection of the world� forests, and this adjustment process is part of creating a �new normal� that will prevent the trees so important to musical instrument makers and other wood industries from disappearing.
Best regards,
Andrea Johnson
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Re: let's get the facts straight about this action
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Re: let's get the facts straight about this action
What "creates confusion and even fear in the short term" is the fact that we must deal with a Justice Department agent's interpretation of foreign law, and that you may have your property seized at the point of a gun, but never have your day in court.
In this most recent raid, the material in question isn't even questionable. It's not roughsawn lumber. It's processed wood that had been cut to size and planed. It's the same fingerboard blank material that Gibson (and every other guitar manufacturer) has imported for years. The Indian government is well aware of the practice, and sees nothing wrong with it.
You are quick to point out the merits of the law, rightly so. If Gibson has broken the law they should be charged and have the opportunity to face their accuser and defend themselves before a jury of their peers. I thought those were rights that were protected under our Constitution.
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Re: Re: let's get the facts straight about this action
Seizure and forfeiture laws have kind of become an end run around such pesky requirements. :-(
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1. Things may only be "seized" in the context of a criminal investigation.
2. Things may only be "forfeit" in the context of a criminal conviction.
In the event of an acquittal, any seized things must be returned. In the event of the investigation being dropped without charges being filed, or charges dropped without a trial, any seized things must be returned. And there'd have to be a ticking clock on seizures, past a certain time on which the things had to be returned if charges were not filed against their owner. (Once charges were filed, the defendant's right to a speedy trial would kick in.)
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solution....
Importing finished products produced in accordance with the laws of the country of origin should work.
Just look at all the cotton clothing we import from China.
On another note.. it will help improve the Indian economy so much that they will eventually start exporting jobs to the US.
... sound funny.... China has already done that....
http://www.businessweek.com/blogs/eyeonasia/archives/2006/04/haier_invests_in_south_caroli na.html
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Re: solution....
That's your solution? Do you work in Washington?
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Corrupt U.S. Government
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