MIAMI – A celebrity fashion designer was sentenced on April 22 to 18 months in prison for smuggling handbags made from the skin of protected reptiles into the United States.

Colombian national Nancy Gonzalez, 71, admitted in November 2023 to illegally importing purses made from caiman and python skins between February 2016 and April 2019.

Caimans and pythons are protected under a multinational treaty called the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

The purses, clutches and wallets by Gonzalez, a decorated designer, typically sell for thousands of dollars apiece and have appeared on catwalks and TV shows.

Her famous clients included Salma Hayek, Britney Spears and Victoria Beckham.

“Under pressure I made poor decisions,” a tearful Gonzalez told a Miami court on April 22 as defence counsel sought leniency for the divorced mother of two.

She was handed an 18-month jail sentence, which will be reduced as she spent 14 months in prison after her arrest in Colombia in July 2022. She was extradited to the US in August 2023.

Gonzalez solicited friends, family members and employees of her manufacturing company in Colombia to transport the reptile-skin handbags on commercial flights to the US.

They were then delivered to the showrooms of Gonzalez’s company, Gzuniga, in New York, where high-end retailers could purchase them for resale in their stores.

The trafficking involved hundreds of purses and handbags with an average retail price exceeding US$2,000 (S$2,700) each, according to US prosecutors. AFP