A leading fashion designer whose accessories were worn by celebrities ranging from Britney Spears to the cast of the TV series “Sex and the City” was sentenced Monday to 18 years in prison after pleading guilty to smuggling charges in Miami federal court. He received a sentence for the month.
MIAMI — A leading fashion designer whose accessories were worn by celebrities ranging from Britney Spears to the cast of the TV series “Sex and the City” has been found guilty in Miami federal court of smuggling crocodile handbags. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison on Monday. From his native Colombia.
Nancy Gonzalez was arrested in Cali, Colombia in 2022 and subsequently charged with running a massive, multi-year conspiracy that included recruiting couriers to transport luxury handbags by commercial flight to luxury showrooms and New York fashion events. was extradited to the United States. Violation of U.S. wildlife laws.
“Everything is driven by money,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Watts Fitzgerald, who likened Gonzalez's actions to those of a drug trafficker. “If you want to stop criminal activity, you need a cocaine kingpin, not someone on the scene.”
Gonzalez's lawyer says Gonzalez, a divorced single mother of two living in Cali, designed a belt for a friend on a home sewing machine and became a fashion icon able to compete with the likes of Dior, Prada and Gucci. He explained the process and asked for leniency from the celebrity designer. .
In court, they showed a 2019 video of top buyers at Bergdorf Goodman, Saks and other retailers praising her creativity and productivity.
“She was determined to show her children and the world that women, including minority women like herself, can pursue their dreams and become financially independent,” they wrote in a memo ahead of Monday's hearing. is written in. “Despite all the adversity, this small but mighty woman was able to create the first luxury fashion company in a third world country.”
But the government countered that she had acquired vast wealth and a lavish lifestyle, in contrast to the couriers she hired to smuggle goods into the United States. Gonzalez, described as a micromanager, recruited as many as 40 passengers to carry four designer handbags each on a commercial flight ahead of an important fashion event, according to testimony from a co-defendant and her former employees.In this way, prosecutors estimate she smuggled $2 million worth of goods into the United States.
All of the skins were from captive-raised caimans and pythons. Nevertheless, she did not receive the appropriate import permits from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which is required under widely ratified international treaties governing trade in endangered and endangered wildlife species. Sometimes I couldn't get it.
In handing down her sentence, Judge Robert Scola said that in 2016 and 2017, she had been warned by U.S. authorities not to circumvent such rules, making her conduct particularly “egregious.”
Although trade in the skins Gonzalez used was not prohibited, the skins are subject to strict monitoring under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, known by the acronym CITES. It belonged to a much-needed, protected wild animal.
Addressing the court before his sentencing, Gonzalez said he deeply regrets not paying closer attention to U.S. law and that his only wish is to hug his 103-year-old mother one more time.
“I sincerely apologize to the United States of America. I never intended to offend a country that owes me so much gratitude,” he said, holding back tears. “Under pressure, I made the wrong decision.”
