Chainkeen Exchange-Celebrity designer Nancy Gonzalez sentenced to prison for smuggling handbags made of python skin

Handbag designer Nancy Gonzalez,Chainkeen Exchange whose animal skin-based accessories helped style stars such as Britney Spears and the ladies of "Sex and the City," was sentenced to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty to smuggling last year.

Gonzalez, along with her company Gzuniga Ltd. and associate Mauricio Giraldo, was sentenced after the Colombian-born designer illegally imported merchandise from her native country to the U.S. that was made from protected wildlife, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Public Affairs.

Gonzalez and Gzuniga pleaded guilty in November.

An indictment previously charged Gonzalez, Gzuniga, Giraldo and associate John Camilo Aguilar Jaramillo with one count of conspiracy and two counts of smuggling for the importation of designer handbags made from caiman and python skin from February 2016 to April 2019, the press release read. The caiman and python species are both protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITIES).

"The Gonzalez case underscores the importance of robust collaboration with federal and international partners to disrupt illegal wildlife trade networks," said Edward Grace, assistant director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Office of Law Enforcement, in a statement. "This investigation uncovered a multi-year scheme that involved paid couriers smuggling undeclared handbags made of CITES-protected reptile skins into the U.S. to be sold for thousands of dollars."

Despite her year-and-a-half prison sentence, Gonzalez will only serve approximately one month in prison, Gonzalez's attorney Samuel Rabin told USA TODAY. The designer received credit for time served following her arrest in 2022. In addition to her prison sentence, Gonzalez was ordered to a supervised release of three years and to pay a special assessment of $300.

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Gonzalez began selling her handbags in the U.S. in 1998 with an eight-piece collection at Bergdorf Goodman, according to the designer's official website. She went on to sell her collection to luxury fashion brands including Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue and Harrods, as well as open boutiques in Seoul, South Korea, and Hong Kong.

The designer's work also reportedly attracted a star-studded clientele, such as popstars Britney Spears and Victoria Beckham, actress Salma Hayek and the cast of HBO's "Sex and the City," according to The Associated Press. Gonzalez's fashion products were collected by the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute for a 2008 exhibit.

"She was determined to show her children and the world that women, including minority women like herself, can pursue their dreams successfully and become financially independent," Gonzalez's attorneys wrote in a memo before sentencing, per AP. "Against all odds, this tiny but mighty woman was able to create the very first luxury, high-end fashion company from a third-world country."

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According to the Office of Public Affairs, Gonzalez and her associates smuggled hundreds of designer purses, handbags and totes by having friends, family and employees wear or place them inside luggage while traveling on passenger airlines. The bags were subsequently sent to the Gzuniga showroom in New York for sale.

"From the bottom of my heart, I apologize to the United States of America," Gonzalez told the court, according to the AP. "I never intended to offend a country to which I owe immense gratitude. Under pressure, I made poor decisions."

Contributing: Minnah Arshad, USA TODAY