Smuggling, Deception and Deceit, Oh My!

The game of deception is a bad guy’s favorite game. The lengths of trouble that these people will go to in order to violate the law is extraordinary. Whether it is firearms, drugs or even money, their skills at trying to deceive U.S. Customs or BIS is quite astounding. I have witnessed some of their work firsthand during my career in this business (mainly with imports). Bad actors persistently seek avenues to achieve their objectives or conduct unlawful operations. Their ingenuity in attempting to smuggle illicit goods through import-export channels can be remarkably inventive.

Recently, BIS put out another addition of “Don’t Let this Happen to You”. It is quite an interesting read about individuals and companies that have violated US export laws. Let’s look at some of these cases.

 

 Case 1: Eric Baird/ Access USA Shipping LLC

From August 1, 2011, through January 7, 2013, while Baird was the CEO of Access USA Shipping LLC dba MyUS.com, he directed Access USA to develop practices and policies which promoted concealment from U.S. merchants. They would regularly change values and descriptions on export documentation even when they knew the accurate information. Some of these changes were for controlled items on the Commerce Control List. Some examples are laser sights for firearms would be changed to be described as “tools and hardware”, rifle scopes were “sporting goods” or “tools, hand tools”. In making these changes to the export documentation, the AES filing would then be entered incorrectly and items that would have required a license for export were exported without a license.

Baird received an email from his Chief Technology officer as early as September 2011, that stated: “I know we are WILLINGLY AND INTENTIONALLY breaking the law”. In the same email chain, Baird suggested that they could falsely reduce the value of items by 25% on the documents submitted to the U.S. government and if “warned by [the U.S.] government,” then the company “can stop ASAP.”

Along with falsifying the documents, Baird also implemented or authorized a “personal shopper” program. As part of the program, Access USA employees would purchase items for a foreign customer from a shopping list and would falsely present themselves to U.S. merchants as the domestic end user of the item.

On December 12, 2018, Eric Baird’s “fun” came to an end. He pleaded guilty to one count of felony smuggling and admitted to 166 administrative violations of U.S. export control laws as part of a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice and BIS. Baird was sentenced to 24 months of probation and a $100 special assessment. He also agreed to a five-year denial of export privileges and a $17 million fine with $7 million suspended. Access USA wasn’t let off the hook. The company agreed to a fine of $27 million with $17 million suspended.

 

Case 2: Rafael Richiez

Rafael Richiez had purchased three firearms that were classified under ECCN 0A501. The package was addressed and shipped to Richiez’s mother in the Dominican Republic. However, the description of the goods on the documentation stated, “household goods”. The firearms were seized at the Port of Haina when it arrived in the DR. The DR law enforcement then decided to do a controlled delivery and Richiez’s mother was arrested and spent 35 days in jail. The Special Agents that inspected the goods found the firearms concealed in containers of powdered iced tea. The firearms weren’t declared, and no export authorization was obtained. Since Rafael Richiez lived in the U.S., the OEE, HSI and ATF Special Agents got a search warrant for Richiez’s residence where they found several other firearms and seized them.

On December 14, 2023, Richiez was sentenced to 20 months in prison, two years of supervised release, 200 hours of community service and a $100 special assessment.

 

Case 3: Jacques Yves Duroseau

Jacques Yves Duroseau is a former U.S. Marine. He decided to impersonate a high-ranking military officer and pretended to be on military orders to export 8 firearms, ammunition and body armor that is export controlled under the ITAR, as well as rifle scopes under ECCN 0A987 by commercial aircraft to Haiti. He packed up these goods and traveled to the airport, properly declared the firearms and ammunition to the airline. After he landed in Port-au-Prince and engaged Haitian Customs, Duroseau was detained by the Haitian National Police. He spent several weeks in their custody before he was turned over to NCIS for investigation. He was ultimately prosecuted and was found guilty of illegally exporting defense-articles and firearms from the United States to Haiti without the necessary authorization.

Duroseau filed many appeals, but on May 24, 2022, he was resentenced to 60 months in prison, three months of probation and a $400 special assessment. BIS also issued a post-conviction denial order for 10 years.

 

More cases on the Import Side

Bad actors also try to get things by U.S. Customs on the import side as well. Most of the time the things that CBP catches don’t always get put out there for the public to see unless it is a huge seizer of goods. When I first started in this business, it was before U.S. Customs started x-raying packages. They had to rely on their expertise to know what to look for when the documents and items in the shipments didn’t add up. In the case of drugs, they would rely heavily on drug dogs to sniff the packages to ensure their hunches were correct. Many times, they were spot on. A few examples that I had witnessed was a shipment of Jesus statues that had drugs hidden inside of them. Once the CBP Officers got a confirmation from the drug dog, they proceeded to drill into the statues and of course ended up finding drugs inside. There was another time that someone tried to smuggle drugs into the U.S. by putting the drugs inside the legs of wicker furniture that they were sending to someone here in the U.S.

Once U.S. Customs started utilizing x-ray machines for packages entering or exiting the U.S., it became a game changer for them and can now find more items that are being smuggled besides drugs.

CBP will also examine shipments that are only coming through the U.S., but not staying here. One example of this that I witnessed was back in 2011. The CBP officers decided to x-ray a tortilla making machine that was being sent from Mexico to Colombia. Inside the machine rollers, they found over $600K of U.S. currency that was then seized. At the time, this was the biggest seizure of smuggled bulk currency for that office.

As you can see from these examples, eventually people get caught one way or another. Depending on the violation it can be devasting to a person or company. It is important to know who your customer is, what they are doing with your goods and where your goods are going. Don’t become another headline for BIS or CBP.

Do you need more help with determining if you have the right procedures in place for your exports or imports? Schedule a no-charge consultation with one of our team members today.