A federal court in Oregon has sentenced a California couple to three years’ probation and fined each of them $10,000 for trafficking protected wildlife parts between Oregon and Vietnam.
Linh Luu and Kevin Le pleaded guilty on October 23 to violating the Lacey Act. The admitted conduct covered payments and transactions involving American black bear gallbladders, cougar bones, lion teeth, rhinoceros-horn segments and a tiger pelt.
Court records described $51,100 in payments between September 2019 and May 2021 to assist the movement of wildlife products. In one transaction, the couple accepted a cash down payment for part of a rhinoceros horn and discussed avoiding banking scrutiny. They later received electronic payments before the horn segment was shipped to Oregon disguised as a household ornament.
The species involved are protected through the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, while several also fall under the US Endangered Species Act. The Lacey Act makes it a federal offence to trade in wildlife that was imported, exported, transported, sold or acquired in violation of underlying law.
The probationary sentences are final district-court dispositions, subject to any appeal. They reflect the offences admitted in the pleas; the court did not impose imprisonment. The fines are separate from the restrictions and supervision that accompany probation.
