For smuggling crocodile handbags into the US for fashion shows, a well-known handbag designer, whose creations have been worn by Britney Spears and on Sex and the City, was sentenced to prison.
Nancy Gonzalez, 71, acknowledged hiring couriers to transport up to four items apiece on commercial flights from her home country of Colombia to the United States for high-profile events such as New York Fashion Week, reported Sky News.
Gonzalez was given an 18-month term in a federal court in Miami on Monday for violating US wildlife regulations. Gonzalez was first detained in 2022 in Cali and then deported to the US.
Prosecutors claimed the handbags, which were made from the hides of captive-bred caiman and pythons, were valued up to $2 million (£1.6 million). However, the designer's attorneys countered that each skin only cost about $140 (£113).
The court heard that on occasion, she neglected to get the appropriate import permits from the US Fish and Wildlife Service, which is mandated under an internationally recognized treaty that controls the trade in endangered and threatened species.
Gonzalez, fighting back tears, expressed her sincere apologies to the court prior to her sentencing for not abiding by all US laws.
"I sincerely apologize to the United States of America," the woman stated. I have the utmost gratitude for this country, and I never meant to disrespect it. I made bad choices when I was under pressure."
Celebrities who have purchased Gonzalez's expertly designed handbags include Victoria Beckham, Salma Hayek, and Britney Spears.
Additionally, her art was featured in a 2008 Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York show.
A 2019 film with prominent buyers from Saks, Bergdorf Goodman, and other stores praising the designer's inventiveness, efficiency, and humanism was played in court by her attorneys.
However, Thomas Watts-Fitzgerald, the prosecutor, stated that the shops "must be regretting they were ever put up to that and if they heard it was presented in court they would cringe".
"They have their own brand to protect," he stated.
Mr. Watts-Fitzgerald claimed that Gonzalez's actions were "all driven by the money" and equated her actions to those of drug traffickers.
Her attorneys begged for the woman's pardon, arguing that she founded "the very first luxury, high-end fashion company from a third world country," which went on to take on Dior, Prada, and Gucci as competitors.
Furthermore, they contended that samples for New York Fashion Week and other events made up barely 1% of the goods she brought into the US without the required documentation.
30 to 37 months was the harsher penalty that the prosecution had been requesting. However, the judge stated that she had been held in a Colombian jail for about 14 months while she was being extradited.
On June 6, she was told to start serving her sentence./BGNES