Quote:

The paperwork in question wasn't even filled out by Gibson, nor was it supposed to be. The Feds were even notified prior to the raid that the mistake was made by a junior clerk who worked for one of the importers. The Feds raided Gibson anyway.



Really? What's the source for that?

Think about this a second. The paperwork wasn't supposed to be filled out by Gibson? They're the recipient of the wood are they not? They can hire a Customs Broker and importers and all that but it's still their consignment and they're responsible for it. It's not like the importer brought it in under their name and then Gibson bought it from them once it was legally here. No, Gibson bought it directly from India and then made the arrangements to get it here. They can hire people to handle it but it's their shipment every step of the way and their lawyers know that.

You're using the old third party argument. Example, I'm a professional tax preparer. You hire me to do your taxes. If there's a big mistake on your tax return, who's responsible? You are because you signed it "under penalty of perjury that your return is true and correct". Look at the signature line of your last tax return. If it can be proven that I gave you legally bad advice I can be sanctioned by the IRS as well but it's still your tax return and you're responsible for it. Don't believe me? Ask Wesley Snipes, Willie Nelson and lots of others. Same thing here.

You guys certainly have a point about good lawyers not arguing a case in the news, wait for trial etc, but in a high profile case like this they will still put out stuff to try to undermine the governments case and I'm not seeing any of that so far. If that thing about a junior clerk is true, why hasn't J even mentioned it once? I haven't even heard him say something like there's lots of details I could go into but I'm advised not to. He hasn't even said that, he only talks about losing US jobs to India and how he's being singled out because he's a Republican supporter.

Again, I'm not arguing that this kind of prosecution is a good idea, all I'm saying is as an outside observer Gibson looks weak and guilty to me.

Bob

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