United States of America, Libelant-Appellee v. Eugene Wagner

Wagner was charged by “libel of information” with importing certain orthopedic devices by means of false statements on invoices in violation of 19 U.S. C. §§ 1481, 1484, and 1485. The Government alleged that, as a result of these violations, the devices should be forfeited pursuant to 19 U.S.C. § 1592 . The district court granted the forfeiture. We affirm.

Wagner was a dealer in orthopedic devices. In the past, he had purchased certain “artificial knees” from a manufacturer in Soviet Occupied [East] Germany for importation into the United States. Wagner paid the appropriate tariff, but had substantial difficulty in selling the devices because of the mandatory labeling that disclosed their country of origin. Thereafter, Wagner conceived and implemented a plan whereby certain manufacturing functions would be performed in East Germany, after which the devices would be sent to Switzerland for further processing and assembly, and finally imported to the United States. It was Wagner’s purpose to have sufficient work performed on the devices in Switzerland to entitle him to declare Switzerland as their country of origin. The devices in question were processed according to Wagner’s plan,…