Renowned designer extradited to the US could face a 25-year sentence

The renowned designer Nancy González has been extradited to the US  where is wanted for the alleged illegal shipment of luxurious handbags made from animal skins, the Colombian police reported Wednesday.

The businesswoman, whose products are sold in exclusive stores in New York, Moscow, Milan, Seoul, Toronto, and Taiwan, was arrested in July 2022 in the Colombian city of Cali. Without specifying the date, the Colombian said that she traveled on a plane to the United States with her partner Diego Mauricio Rodríguez.

Both are suspected of sending “bags and wallets made of animal skin” to the United States, some of them “protected species” and “endangered species,” General José Luis Ramírez explained in a video sent to the media.

According to the police official, González and Rodríguez are required by a court in the Southern District of the state of Florida for “a concert to import and take wildlife against the law and smuggling of merchandise.”

The indictment of the US court affirms that there was a trafficking network related to the manufacture of the bags. The mode of operation consisted of contacting a man in Valle del Cauca and proceeding to organize and report the skins as if they were gifts that were being sent to the United States. The raw material left the country without the permission of the environmental authorities and evading regulations.

On March 27, President Gustavo Petro signed the extradition resolution. The Supreme Court of Justice determined that the crimes for which she would be tried in the United States are equivalent to those that exist in Colombian law.

Images showed the partners boarding an aircraft handcuffed and surrounded by uniformed officers.

At the time of the arrest, the Colombian prosecutor’s office reported that González, 78, allegedly formed a network of irregular shipments of at least 100 accessories made with the skins of alligators, stifles, and snakes that she herself raised with permits.

In luxury stores, these products reached 4,200 dollars. Manhattan’s Bergdorf Goodman and 300 other high-end boutiques were some of González’s clients before her capture.

Film and television figures such as Salma Hayek, Britney Spears, and Victoria Beckham wore her accessories, according to specialized portals.

If found guilty, González faces a 25-year prison sentence.