Boise Cascade Felony Plea Extends Accountability Beyond the Importer

Boise Cascade pleaded guilty (opens in a new tab) on April 27 to a felony Lacey Act violation and was ordered to pay a $6.382 million fine—twice its gross profit from illegally sourced plywood. The court also imposed a compliance plan. DOJ said the company knew, or was willfully blind to, the plywood's unlawful importation through a supplier that concealed its Chinese origin.

The importer's principals had earlier received 57-month prison sentences (opens in a new tab) and forfeiture orders of more than $42 million. Those amounts were ordered; their collection is a separate question.

This is the important precedent: U.S. purchasers cannot ignore credible signs of unlawful sourcing and assume the legal risk stops with an importer or supplier.