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Press Release

Saint Paul Man Pleads Guilty to Dealing Firearms Without a License

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Minnesota

United States Attorney Andrew M. Luger today announced the guilty plea of EITAN BENJAMIN FELDMAN, 28, for illegally dealing in firearms without a license. The defendant pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge Patrick J. Schiltz in United States District Court in Minneapolis, Minn. A sentencing date has been set for August 30, 2016.

According to the defendant’s guilty plea, between January 2014 and January 2016, FELDMAN engaged in a regular pattern and practice of unlawfully dealing in firearms without a license by repeatedly purchasing firearms and offering them for resale within days of getting them. FELDMAN routinely purchased firearms offered by out-of-state Federal Firearms Licensees (FFLs) through websites such as gunbroker.com, an online firearms auction site. FELDMAN arranged to have the firearms transferred to L.E. Gun Sales, a FFL in Minnesota, where he received and took possession of the guns after completing and signing the appropriate documentation and submitting to a National Instant Criminal Background System (NICS) check.

According to the defendant’s guilty plea, during the same time period, FELDMAN regularly listed and offered the same firearms for sale – often at a higher price than what he paid – on armslist.com, a website that allows individuals to list firearms for sale. On average, FELDMAN made a potential $90 profit on each firearm he resold.  Of the 41 guns FELDMAN purchased and re-sold during this time, the average time he actually possessed a gun before offering it for resale was only nine days.

In July 2015, an ATF Special Agent told FELDMAN that some of the firearms he had received at L.E. Gun Sales, and subsequently sold, had been linked to crime scenes within days of FELDMAN taking possession of and selling the guns.

On October 2, 2015, ATF Special Agents served FELDMAN with a written Warning Notice of Unlicensed Firearms Dealing in Violation of Federal Law, warning him that his continuous and repetitive firearm-related activity appears to make him an unlicensed “dealer in firearms” and that he should stop immediately or risk criminal prosecution. Despite the warning, FELDMAN continued his unlawful dealing in firearms on at least eight more occasions, including two sales of firearms to undercover federal agents. During those two sales, FELDMAN did not ask for any identification nor make an effort to determine whether the putative purchasers were prohibited by law from purchasing the firearms.

This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Minneapolis Police Department, the Saint Paul Police Department and the Bloomington Police Department.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Bejar is prosecuting the case.


Defendant Information: 

EITAN BENJAMIN FELDMAN, 29
Saint Paul, Minn.

Convicted:

  • Willfully engaging in the business of dealing in firearms without a license, 1 count

Updated April 29, 2016