# U.S. court hears guilty plea of German tarantula smuggler



## rudy691 (Aug 11, 2010)

*U.S. court hears guilty plea of German tarantula smuggler (Sven Koppler)*

LOS ANGELES, Jan 19 (Reuters Legal) - A German national who shipped hundreds of live tarantulas into the United States through the mail has pleaded guilty to a federal smuggling charge, prosecutors said.Court filings state that 37-year-old Sven Koppler made nearly $300,000 over a seven-year period by operating an illicit tarantula business that stretched from Germany to South Africa to Los Angeles....


U.S. court hears guilty plea of German tarantula smuggler


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## rudy691 (Aug 11, 2010)

so I highly doubt that anybodys gonna make business with Sven 

upto 20 years in prison doesnt sound good :/


EDIT: topic it doesnt need to be removed, as he's been sentenced guilty now. so no 'illegal' accusation here


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## jaykickboxer (Feb 11, 2008)

rudy691 said:


> so I highly doubt that anybodys gonna make business with Sven
> 
> upto 20 years in prison doesnt sound good :/
> 
> ...


IL be surprised if he gets a year? It says up to


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## Hedgewitch (Feb 12, 2008)

> Koppler further admitted sending the agents 22 Mexican red-kneed tarantulas, a species of spider *formally known as Brachypelma smithi* that is protected under an international treaty.


Formally? Have I missed something!?


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## _TiMiSdRuNk_ (Aug 27, 2008)

Hedgewitch said:


> Formally? Have I missed something!?



Possibly. Who knows with inverts? It's starting to piss me off to be honest. I never knew king baboons had a new latin name till i questioned some kid offering a male :/


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## Hedgewitch (Feb 12, 2008)

_TiMiSdRuNk_ said:


> Possibly. Who knows with inverts? It's starting to piss me off to be honest. I never knew king baboons had a new latin name till i questioned some kid offering a male :/


Load of African T taxonomy was revised a few months back, there were a few threads detailing changes.

Either way, I can see nothing about smithis changing...


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## Craig Mackay (Feb 2, 2009)

Hedgewitch said:


> Formally? Have I missed something!?


You've not missed anything. They mean as in formal (as opposed to scientific name) rather than formerly.


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## DannyB (Nov 8, 2009)

Looks like a well informed, well written and well researched newspaper article again.


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## Becky (Mar 26, 2007)

So what happened to all the donations people gave him to help him out then? :lol2: Get money donations from people then plead guilty?
To be honest he deserves what he gets. I've had lots of people from America ask me about shipping spiders to them secretly in unmarked boxes etc and i've always said no... He should of too!


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## rudy691 (Aug 11, 2010)

DannyB said:


> Looks like a well informed, well written and well researched newspaper article again.


and your point is mate ? it wasnt a newspaper actually, it's from Reuters Legal - and you can't tell me that Reuters is pants ? but here's the article from something better known around 

BBC News - German man admits smuggling live tarantulas into US


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## TCBT (Jul 11, 2010)

No sympothy for anyone who wishes to break/bend the law, i like the guy granted... Nice enough guy, all round decent bloke but..

If you cant do the time, dont do the crime


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## Hedgewitch (Feb 12, 2008)

Craig Mackay said:


> You've not missed anything. They mean as in formal (as opposed to scientific name) rather than formerly.


:lol2: Well aren't I just a fool! Confusing Formally and formerly...

Thanks for pointing that out Craig.


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## selina20 (May 28, 2008)

Hedgewitch said:


> Formally? Have I missed something!?


lol i thought i had too


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## guruphil (Oct 16, 2010)

Surely, if he has been breaking the import/export laws then it's a case of pure stupidity.

:sad:

On the other hand, if he was working under 'best intentions' and just hadn't done his homework then it's a bit of a shame he didn't do his research better.

Also, there's a big thing about how he earned £185,000 over a ten year period... Big deal, that's about average annual salary for work in this country. If this was his main income then it's hardly scandalous!!!!

*big sighs*


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## snowgoose (May 5, 2009)

Saying that though, homework doesn't take 10 years to do properly.


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## TCBT (Jul 11, 2010)

guruphil said:


> Surely, if he has been breaking the import/export laws then it's a case of pure stupidity.
> 
> :sad:



i can honestly say, sven aint that stupid :lol2:

its more of a case of "not obaying the laws" at hand, there not hard to understand in any sence, if this was a case of stupidity, then to him rape must be legal, in the world of importing and exporting, it should be as simple as understanding rape, murder, and robbery is not legal, ...

all in all, he is either stupid, therefore shouldnt even own a spider, or

it could be somthing to do with the laws, and regs that he is simply trying to avoid, 

you cant possibly play dumb here, no wonder why he pledged guilty, its gone in his favour, if he had played dumb, he would have got the book thrown at him with a huge chance that he would have gotten longer, and a full sentence at that, with a bigggggg hefty fine... he played his cards right in the case against him, but to say the least, and i cant stress this enough

*IF YOU CANT DO THE TIME, DONT DO THE CRIME.....*


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## Becky (Mar 26, 2007)

I still wanna know what happened to all the donations they were asking for............


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## snowgoose (May 5, 2009)

My *GUESS* 



> Under the terms of the plea agreement, Koppler will also have to reimburse approximately $3,400 paid by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to obtain the tarantulas in its investigation.


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## Becky (Mar 26, 2007)

How ridiculous.. why should we give him donations for that? He made $300,000 from illegally selling spiders so i'm sure he has more stashed away than he lets on :lol2:


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## Meko (Apr 29, 2007)

without reading the links because i'm at work.... did he plead guilty because he's guilty or did he plead guilty because if he did they told him he'd get 12months and a slap on the wrists compared to 25 years hard labour sharing a cell with Bubba 'Big Boy' Philips if he pleaded not guilty and was found to be guilty?


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## guruphil (Oct 16, 2010)

Becky said:


> How ridiculous.. why should we give him donations for that? He made $300,000 from illegally selling spiders so i'm sure he has more stashed away than he lets on :lol2:


 I doubt it was all 'illegally selling spiders' - perhaps 'foolishly overlooking CITES on some species' would be more appropriate (but I don't know the ins and outs.)

Again, if this was his main income, and if it was over a decade, we're looking about £18,000 a year. Most jobs in the UK pay around that so it's not an enormous amount of income for a quite boring despatch and breeding job which probably took a lot of work.

I am playing Devil's advocate to be honest as I know very little about the case either way, but I've seen the media totally distort cases before and they'll do it again. If anyone knows Sven and what he says happened it'd be interesting to compare that to the media story. Until that time I'm reserving judgement!


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## Baldpoodle (Apr 18, 2007)

Meko said:


> without reading the links because i'm at work.... did he plead guilty because he's guilty or did he plead guilty because if he did they told him he'd get 12months and a slap on the wrists compared to 25 years hard labour sharing a cell with Bubba 'Big Boy' Philips if he pleaded not guilty and was found to be guilty?


Funny I started a thread on this yesterday and it was removed very quickly saying that you can not discuss about any long going legal issues.

In the US you are innocent until proven guilty, so if he was truely innocent then to prove him guilty would mean breaking the law in some way or the other.
Besides if you were innocent why the hell would you accept anyone saying otherwise....don't forget this goes on your record! The only reason why you would plead guilty is if you were guilty and by addmitting your guilt then the courts may go more easy on your sentence.

I for one am glad I was not stooped into sending him cash to help him get off, on the grounds that he was set up and innocent of everything he had done, because by pleading guilty he obviously wasn't. (And no this in not liable saying this because he can't be found innocent by pleading guilty can he now). 
I hope too that they do not send him away for the max but if they do he only has himself to blame.


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## garlicpickle (Jan 16, 2009)

Baldpoodle said:


> Funny I started a thread on this yesterday and it was removed very quickly saying that you can not discuss about any long going legal issues.


after this thread was started I asked on the mod section and was told now he had pleaded guilty there was no reason not to discuss it. If you wish I will reinstate your post.


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## _TiMiSdRuNk_ (Aug 27, 2008)

Favouritsm


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## Poxicator (Nov 14, 2007)

I wonder how the US came up with that figure, I'm not disputing it I just wonder how they obtained it, or did they do some guess work here.

Pleading guilty is usually the result of evidence against you, the chance of you winning the case, and the attraction of a lower sentence. Its no surprise he's pleaded guilty. The issue that many saw in this case wasnt whether he was guilty as charged, but whether that was the correct use of the laws of CITES.


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## Baldpoodle (Apr 18, 2007)

> Pleading guilty is usually the result of evidence against you, the chance of you winning the case, and the attraction of a lower sentence. Its no surprise he's pleaded guilty.


yes because he is guilty!



> The issue that many saw in this case wasnt whether he was guilty as charged, but whether that was the correct use of the laws of CITES.


He sent CITES B listed species without the correct documention and got caught so how is this not the correct use of the laws of CITES as CITES does not just cover wild caught it also covers captive bred.


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## Poxicator (Nov 14, 2007)

PLEASE NOTE
It would be a shame to have to mod another thread that provides information on this very topical issue. I'd much rather the thread got back on course. So, can we _please_ concentrate on the topic rather than the whether we like BP and his posts - I just see that as escalating into an argument.


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## Oderus (Nov 24, 2009)

Well he did what he did with full knowledge and if anyone bought into the "hype" that he was setup by the USFW and gave money to his defence fund for that reason alone then all the fool them.

But I do find it amusing he could be facing years in jail (though I also doubt that will happen) when some of big scale smugglers of W/C stock into Europe seem to get away with it time and time again with a slap on the wrist :whistling2:


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## KWIBEZEE (Mar 15, 2010)

*?*

So - back on track - (kind of) ( - may be 20 years late !!! ) BUT what's this added comment at the end of the Reauters article :

Quote : 


"... not like Lee Arden from The Spidershop who got caught smuggling a suitcase full of spiders OUT of South America!..."

1. What species ?

2. If this is true I'm glad I didn't put an order in. :bash:

Anyone?


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## 8and6 (Jan 19, 2010)

personally i wonder if the 9 US citizens that were 'accessories to the fact' were at all prosecuted....as there is no mention of their fate it appears not


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## Oderus (Nov 24, 2009)

[email protected] said:


> personally i wonder if the 9 US citizens that were 'accessories to the fact' were at all prosecuted....as there is no mention of their fate it appears not


I would have thought so too, unless they snitched on a bunch of other overseas dealers and their buyers to avoid prosecution.


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## Poxicator (Nov 14, 2007)

@Kwibezee. Lee exported tarantula from Panama but the plane was diverted into Brazil. Lee's papers didnt cover for that diversion so his stock was confiscated. As there are no export papers available from Brazil he couldn't claim them back. Forums were awash with all sorts of rubbish, just like the press was. Google it to see what I mean.


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## Oderus (Nov 24, 2009)

Poxicator said:


> @Kwibezee. Lee exported tarantula from Panama but the plane was diverted into Brazil. Lee's papers didnt cover for that diversion so his stock was confiscated. As there are no export papers available from Brazil he couldn't claim them back. Forums were awash with all sorts of rubbish, just like the press was. Google it to see what I mean.


That and someting about IATA regs Pete


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## jaykickboxer (Feb 11, 2008)

money donated which I doubt was much would have went towards bail of course he's pleaded guilty otherwise he'd get double the time


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## _TiMiSdRuNk_ (Aug 27, 2008)

Personally i don't give a crap what happens to the guy. He's nothing to me. Should of known better than to give the fat burger munching Americans any excuse to look better than they are. Next they'll be invading Germany to seize control of the illegal spider market.


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## Poxicator (Nov 14, 2007)

*This thread has been given a clean bill of health
But please be aware, the doctor will issue infractions if it gets into another slanging match whether in English, German, Latin or double-dutch!*

*KEEP IT ON TOPIC!*


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## Baldpoodle (Apr 18, 2007)

Great site lads....keep up the good work!!


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## Moosey (Jan 7, 2008)

This may sound bitchy, but I feel a little smug that this has come out, purely for the people who blindly believed he couldn't possibly do anything naughty because he's "such a nice bloke".

At the same time, I hope no one gave him a lot of money. I can understand the desire to try and help out someone you may respect in the hobby if you believed him to be innocent; but assuming he is guilty, then I think it's more than a bit cheeky to ask strangers to pay your bail knowing you did wrong!


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## courseithurts (Dec 29, 2010)

[email protected] said:


> personally i wonder if the 9 US citizens that were 'accessories to the fact' were at all prosecuted....as there is no mention of their fate it appears not


 no i expect all there charges got droped


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## Baldpoodle (Apr 18, 2007)

courseithurts said:


> no i expect all there charges got droped


lol

Thats mad!!
The next thing.....you lot will be thinking that I have a split personality.


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## Oderus (Nov 24, 2009)

Baldpoodle said:


> lol
> 
> Thats mad!!
> The next thing.....you lot will be thinking that I have a split personality.


What personality a famous one like Rod Hull :gasp:


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## TalulaTarantula (Jan 21, 2011)

hmm now im a little wary of my 10 x brown huntsmen spiders im getting shipped over from there :S


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## Baldpoodle (Apr 18, 2007)

Did you get a good price on the shipping?


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