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FLORIDA IMPORTER SENTENCED IN LANDMARK CORAL SMUGGLING CASE

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A Florida man and his company were sentenced today in the first-ever successful felony prosecution for illegal coral trafficking. Petros "Pete" Leventis will serve 18 months incarceration for his role in a smuggling operation that used false declarations, invoices, and shipping documents to circumvent U.S. and Philippine laws and international trade restrictions that protect corals and other marine species. His company, Greek Island Imports, was fined an additional $25,000 and given five years of probation in U.S. District Court in Tampa.

A federal investigation by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Division of Law Enforcement and the U.S. Customs Service, revealed that Leventis smuggled internationally protected corals and seashells from the Philippines to the United States. Leventis must also pay a $5,000 fine and undergo two years of supervised release for his crime.

"Coral reefs are among the world's most biologically diverse and economically important ecosystems; they are also among the most imperiled," said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Jamie Rappaport Clark. "Stopping illegal coral trade is a vital part of U.S. and international efforts to save these resources."

In August, 1999, a federal jury found Leventis and his company guilty of smuggling and violating the Lacey Act - a federal statute that makes it a crime to import or export wildlife taken in violation of a foreign, state, tribal, or other U.S. law.

"Trafficking in endangered species like coral threatens aquatic ecosystems," said Lois Schiffer, Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Justice's Environment and Natural Resources. "Let the message be clear: We will take whatever steps we can here and abroad to stop the black market in endangered species and protect coral reefs."

Coral reefs are home to nearly one-fourth of the world's ocean fish and thousands of other marine organisms. Reef ecosystems also contribute billions of dollars to the global economy, supporting tourism and other industries.

Commercial exploitation is a serious threat to the survival of the world's reefs, more than half of which are considered at risk because of human activities. Dangers range from unsustainable trade and destructive fishing practices to coastal development and marine pollution. Large-scale degradation of reefs has already occurred in east Africa, south and southeast Asia, parts of the Pacific, and the Caribbean.

Concern for reef conservation prompted the Philippines to ban the export of corals in 1977. Many of the species targeted by Leventis, including the blue, organ-pipe, branch, brush, staghorn, finger, brown stem, mushroom, and feather corals, have been listed on Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) since 1985. Such species may not be legally traded without proper documentation from the country where they are collected.

"Profiteering at the expense of coral reefs will not go unchecked," Clark said. "As the world's largest consumer of corals and other reef species, the United States is leading the way to ensure that demand for these marine treasures does not ultimately destroy them."

Leventis' smuggling activities came to the government's attention in July 1997 when a 40-foot shipping container loaded with some 400 boxes and packages of coral and sea shells arrived in Tampa. Special agents of the Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Customs Service then documented a six-year series of transactions involving protected corals and seashells between Leventis and Esther Flores, the owner of a Philippine seashell and souvenir exporting business.

In November 1998, Leventis and Flores were indicted on smuggling and wildlife charges. The Justice Department in February 1999 filed papers with the Philippines seeking the extradition of Flores.

Leventis' Lacey Act and smuggling convictions were tied to the July 1997 shipment to Tampa, as well as an illegal 1993 coral importation.

Regulating the coral trade is difficult. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wildlife inspectors, Customs officials, and their global counterparts must handle large shipments of both dead and perishable live corals, and be able to identify the different reef species found in trade. The scientific information that exporting countries need to assess the effects of trade is often unavailable, and many nations lack the resources to fully implement and enforce trade controls.

Both the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Justice Department are participating in the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force (a coalition of federal agencies established by the President) and are working with other coral reef nations and the global CITES community to reduce threats to reefs, including those associated with trade. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service organized a workshop on coral identification for North American wildlife enforcement officers a year ago and provided similar training to all of its own inspectors this fall. On December 6, 1999, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which chairs the trade subgroup of the Coral Reef Task Force, will hold a public meeting to discuss the U.S. role in the coral trade and receive comments about whether there is a need for new authority to restrict commerce in certain coral reef species.

"We encourage Americans to be conservation-minded consumers when it comes to the purchase of corals and coral reef products," Clark said. Travelers overseas should check U.S. and local laws before buying coral souvenirs and bringing them home. Purchasers in this country, including marine aquarium owners as well as curio seekers, can help protect coral reefs by insisting that retailers only stock coral reef products harvested from sustainable sources.

The case was jointly prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida and the Wildlife and Marine Resources Section of the U.S. Department of Justice.