Lumber Liquidators pleads guilty to illegal imports

Hardwood flooring retailer Lumber Liquidators will pay more than $13 million in fines for illegally importing wood harvested from the world’s last wild Siberian tiger and Amur leopard habitat in Russia.

The Norfolk, Va.-based company pleaded guilty Thursday to one felony count of importing goods through false statements and four misdemeanor violations of the Lacey Act, which makes it a crime to import timber that was taken in violation of the laws of a foreign country and to transport falsely labeled timber across international borders into the United States. 

{mosads}The Department of Justice said the flooring, which was mostly manufactured in China, was made using Mongolian oak timber that was illegally logged in forests in far-east Russia.

The forests are home to the last 450 wild Siberian tigers and are the primary home of the highly endangered Amur leopard, of which less than 50 remain in the wild.

Under a plea agreement, Lumber Liquidators will pay $13.15 million, including $7.8 million in criminal fines, $969,175 in criminal forfeiture and more than $1.23 million in community service payments.  

“Lumber Liquidators’ race to profit resulted in the plundering of forests and wildlife habitat that, if continued, could spell the end of the Siberian tiger,” John Cruden, assistant attorney general of the DOJ’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, said in a news release. “Lumber Liquidators knew it had a duty to follow the law and instead it flouted the letter and spirit of the Lacey Act, ignoring its own red flags that its products likely came from illegally harvested timber, all at the expense of law abiding competitors.”