United States v. Boise Cascade Company

On April 27, 2026, the Boise Cascade Company pleaded guilty and was sentenced for a felony violation of the Lacey Act for its role in a timber trafficking scheme to evade anti-dumping duties (16 U.S.C. §§ 3372(a)(1), 3373(d)(1)(B)). Boise Cascade was ordered to pay a $6,382,000 fine (representing twice the gross profits it derived from the illegal wood at issue in this case), complete a five-year term of probation, and will implement a compliance plan. Boise Cascade is the third federal criminal enforcement action to come out of this large-scale duty evasion scheme.

Boise Cascade is a publicly traded company with a distribution center in Pompano, Florida. Boise Cascade purchased wood from Horizon Plywood (Horizon), whose principals, Noel and Kelsy Quintana, were sentenced in February 2024 for conspiracy and Lacey Act violations based on their illegal importation of hardwood plywood. Horizon employee, Marta Angelbello, was also sentenced after pleading guilty to making a false statement related to her role in the scheme.

Between 2018 and 2021, Boise Cascade’s Pompano location purchased hardwood plywood from Horizon, totaling more than $30 million. Beginning in approximately 2019, Boise Cascade purchased, received, sold, and transported hardwood plywood from Horizon knowing (including actions manifesting willful blindness) that hardwood plywood was illegally imported from China. Boise Cascade knew that Horizon smuggled the wood using falsified import declarations. For example, Horizon transshipped products from China to Malaysia, where it moved product into new containers, and then from Malaysia to the United States. Boise Cascade knew or should have known the plywood purchased from Horizon was sourced from China.

Boise Cascade was also aware that the United States executed a search warrant at Horizon’s warehouse in South Florida in January 2021. Despite knowing Horizon was under federal investigation, Boise Cascade still placed and received at least 10 new orders for birch plywood in the two weeks following execution of the search warrant.

Homeland Security Investigations conducted the investigation, with support from Customs and Border Protection.