In Georgia Federal Criminal news, the Associated Press reports that Federal prosecutors charged A-440 Pianos, Inc., a piano importer in the Atlanta area, and its owner, Pascal Vieillard, last week with alleged illegal smuggling of 855 elephant ivory key tops into the U.S. Mr. Vieillard and the company pled not guilty, and Mr. Vieillard’s counsel has stated that the ivory at issue is more than 100 years old.
In other news, Tony Leon Smith, a resident of Loganville, Georgia, has been charged with wire fraud in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York, according to the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. Smith is alleged to have falsely represented himself to an entrepreneur in the Rochester area as a successful investor in foreign currencies and to have promised a 100 percent return within 90 days for investments in alleged foreign exchange instruments. Smith allegedly convinced the man to set up a corporation in the Caribbean island nation of Saint Kitts and to wire $5 million to the corporation. Smith allegedly then withdrew $537,467 from the company’s account and converted it to his own use.