Extradition Treaties

If you went to elementary school in South Florida, sing along.  “Miss Lucy had a baby.  She named him Tiny Tim.  She put him in the bathtub to see if he could swim.”  Keep singing until you get to the part about “the lady with the alligator purse.”  You have never seen an alligator purse in real life, have you, even though alligators are abundant in Florida?  Many of them ended up as alligator purses before the 1970s, when the Endangered Species Act came to their rescue, and their numbers rebounded.  Purses made from the skins of endangered reptiles face a high price these days, mainly because they can only reach the consumer through the violation of more laws than just the Endangered Species Act.  Several participants in a conspiracy to import products made of leather from endangered animals into the United States from Colombia have faced justice in both countries.  When criminal conspiracies take place in more than one state, the federal courts get involved.  If the conspiracies cross national borders, though, the court systems sometimes extradite defendants from one country to another before or after their convictions.  Here, our Miami criminal defense lawyer explains the role of extradition in the caiman leather handbag case and other criminal cases.

What Is Extradition?

Extradition is a joint action by law enforcement in two countries.  It happens when someone accused of a crime in one country gets caught in another.  For example, who can forget the case of OxyMonster, the French man who got arrested for drug trafficking when he arrived in the United States to compete in a beard and mustache contest.  Even though his drug trafficking activity was illegal in both the U.S. and France, he was charged and convicted in Miami.  If French authorities had so desired, they could have had him extradited to France to face trial there.  When OxyMonster received a 20-year sentence, the possibility remained that he could be extradited to France to serve his sentence there.

The U.S. has extradition treaties with many countries, but not all.  No country on Earth has extradition treaties with every other country.  Some extradition treaties are dual criminality treaties, meaning that the countries can extradite defendants if the charges they are facing are felonies in both jurisdictions.  Some extradition treaties are list treaties, which means that extradition is only a possibility for the criminal offenses specifically named in the treaty.

The Extradition Treaty Between the United States and Colombia

Since 1979, the United States and Colombia have signed several extradition treaties, each treaty amending the previous ones.  Some of them have been dual criminality treaties, while others have been list treaties.  Most cases of extradition between the United States and Colombia have involved the trafficking of illegal drugs into the United States.

Defendants Face Extradition for Conspiracy to Smuggle Leather Products Made From Endangered Species

The fallout from the illegal activities of the luxury handbag company Gzuniga led to several defendants pleading guilty and facing criminal penalties in the United States and Colombia.  The handbags at the center of the controversy were made from the leather of endangered species such as pythons and caimans, which are alligator-like crocodilians native to Central and South America.  Sale of the leather of these animals is a violation of the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).  Between 2016 and 2019, a group of conspirators brought handbags made of the leather of endangered animals in their luggage when they traveled from Colombia to the United States; the illegal merchandise ended up for sale on the shelves of a Gzuniga retail store in New York.  At least four conspirators pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges in the United States and Colombia.  The owner of the company was sentenced to 18 months in prison with credit for time served, followed by three years of supervised release.  Another defendant served time in Colombia before being extradited to the United States.  The other two defendants, who have yet to receive their sentences, are also Colombian citizens who were extradited to the United States.  The company was also barred from commercial trade in wildlife for three years; authorities confiscated the handbags made from endangered species.

Contact Our Criminal Defense Attorneys

A South Florida criminal defense lawyer can help you cast reasonable doubt about your guilt if you are being accused of a crime in more than one country.  Contact Ratzan & Faccidomo in Miami, Florida for a confidential consultation about your case.

Sources:

justice.gov/opa/pr/luxury-handbag-company-founder-and-co-conspirator-sentenced-smuggling-handbags-made-caiman

2009-2017.state.gov/s/l/16164.htm#:~:text=A%20new%20U.S.%2DColombia%20extradition,trafficking%20and%20other%20transnational%20crimes.