I've heard some speculation regarding political reasons for this happening as well.
Appears to be another silly-ass implementation of the Lacey Act. In theory, a perfectly understandable law to deter poaching, but for some reason it tends to be enforced in very stupid ways. Cases like this pop up from time to time, instigated by the DOJ of either party. This certainly seems like a silly and pointless prosecution, but unfortunately those aren't exclusive to any particular ideological assholes. The people who are insisting that this is Obama cracking down on companies that didn't pay up are every bit as stupid as they sound.
Yeah, I read about this a few days ago and I couldn't help but think that the DoJ must have something better to do than to make sure a company's foreign wood supply checked all the regulation boxes. Seems more like a show of force to get other companies to watch out rather than a legitimate attempt to curtail lawbreaking.
If I had to take a guess, It'd be that somebody called 800-TIPS (Leo Fender, I'm looking in your direction), and once the DOJ decides to crawl up your ass, it's almost impossible to get it out. I suppose a vendetta from somebody inside is a possibility, wouldn't be the first time, but over-zealousness seems like a much more likely scenario. Uncle Sammy doesn't like to admit when he made a mistake, so getting a conviction, any conviction, makes it all seem like he done good.
Topic: Gibson Guitar Corp. Facilities Raided By the Federal Government (Read 1267 times)