After 2 raids, DOJ will not charge Gibson Guitar Company.

[No Elephants]

After Two Raids, DOJ Decides No Criminal Charges Against Gibson Guitar Company
By Susan Jones
August 7, 2012

(CNSNews.com) - <snip>



Gibson has agreed to pay a $300,000 penalty to the U.S. government, and it also has agreed to make a "community service payment" of $50,000 to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation -- to be used on research projects or tree conservation activities. The Fish and Wildlife Service conducted the investigation.

We felt compelled to settle, as the costs of proving our case at trial would have cost millions of dollars and taken a very long time to resolve," Gibson CEO Henry Juszkiewicz said in an Aug. 6 news release announcing the settlement. "This allows us to get back to the business of making guitars. An important part of the settlement is that we are getting back the materials seized in a second armed raid on our factories and we have formal acknowledgement that we can continue to source rosewood and ebony fingerboards from India, as we have done for many decades."

<snip>


"We feel that Gibson was inappropriately targeted," Juszkiewicz said, adding that the matter "could have been addressed with a simple contact (from) a caring human being representing the government. Instead, the Government used violent and hostile means," including what Gibson described as "two hostile raids on its factories by agents carrying weapons and attired in SWAT gear where employees were forced out of the premises, production was shut down, goods were seized as contraband, and threats were made that would have forced the business to close."

Further, Gibson noted that the years-long investigation has cost taxpayers millions of dollars -- and put a "job-creating U.S. manufacture at risk and at a competitive disadvantage."

Much more at http://cnsnews.com/news/article/after-two-raids-doj-decides-no-criminal-charges-against-gibson-guitar-company

The D of J felt it was protecting the environment. The raid may have been necessary to make sure evidence was not moved or destroyed.


The Justice Department will not bring criminal charges against Gibson related to the company's purchase and importation of ebony and other exotic woods from Madagascar and India.

In return, Gibson admitted that it had failed to ensure that the exotic wood it was purchasing from its supplier had been legally harvested and exported.

[L0oniX]

1. Jack booted government thugs ...same as it ever was. God bless America ...pfffft!

[No Elephants]

2. I had your reaction initially, but you do have to seize evidence, so I ended up

with very mixed feelings, especially since I automatically give points to companies manufacturing in the U.S.