Long Beach man indicted by Alaska grand jury on charges of international coral smuggling • Long Beach Post News - Long Beach Post

Allen William Ockey of Long Beach was charged April 21 with 13 counts of felony violations of conspiracy, violations of the Lacey Act, which makes it unlawful to knowingly import wildlife sold in violation of U.S. or international law, and smuggling of corals from the Philippines, according to the indictment.

Some of the corals were also sold in violation of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), an international treaty implemented to prevent species from becoming endangered or extinct because of international commercial trade, according to the indictment.

The indictment was filed in Alaska because all the alleged smuggled corals landed and traveled through Anchorage, Alaska, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.

The 10 individuals indicted collectively purchased and transported for sale more than 3,000 separate pieces of coral in violation of Philippines and U.S. law, according to the U.S. Attorney's office. The corals include large polyp stony corals, live soft corals and mushroom corals, none of which were legal to export under Philippine law, according to court filings.

The Republic of the Philippines straddles the "Coral Triangle," a 5.4 million-square-kilometer stretch of ocean that contains three-quarters of the world's coral species, according to the indictment. Because of a variety of factors, including poaching, just 5% of coral reefs in the Philippines are in "excellent" condition, and just 1% of them are in a "pristine" state, according to court filings.

Ockey allegedly purchased a variety of corals from a Philippine citizen identified in the indictment as "unindicted co-conspirator G.A.B" between July 18, 2017, and March 26, 2018, according to court filings. Between Oct. 3, 2017, and Dec. 7, 2017, G.A.B. allegedly sold and exported five shipments consisting of more than 300 coral fragments to Ockey for commercial resale, according to the indictment.

The indictment states that because the shipment method was designed to conceal the contents, most of the corals "died en route or shortly thereafter upon travel from the Philippines, through Alaska, to their destination."

In any case, Ockey allegedly sold the corals to collectors and hobbyists through two online companies, West Coast Frags and Legit Fish Aquarium Service, according to the indictment.

Ockey communicated with G.A.B. via Facebook message, according to the indictment. In one example of the communication included in the indictment that the U.S. Attorney's office said is contrary to the Lacey Act and in violation of U.S. law, Ockey sent the message "Next shipment are you able to ship a little larger colonies?" on Oct. 6, 2017.

G.A.B then allegedly responded, "larger colonies need larger bags bro, which ups might not allow," according to the indictment. Ockey then allegedly responded, "Haha, ok bro. Don't want to get in trouble."

Philippine authorities arrested G.A.B. in August 2018 for "the illegal gathering, possession, sales, and undocumented exporting of ordinary, precious, and semi-precious corals from Philippine coral reefs," according to court records.

Ockey faces a maximum of five years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine for violating the Lacey Act, and another 20 years imprisonment and $250,000 fine for smuggling, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.

A person answering the phone listed for Ockey's two companies hung up when asked about the indictment.

Ockey will be arraigned in an Anchorage court on May 17, according to court records.

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