Celebrity fashion designer convicted of smuggling crocodile bags

The designer Nancy González was sentenced to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty in Miami federal court to charges of smuggling alligator bags into the United States. In her client list, she had high-ranking celebrities, such as Britney Spears, Kris Jenner and Victoria Beckham. The designer also gained prominence when several of her bags appeared in Sex and the City 2.

Nancy was arrested in 2022, in Cali, Colombia. She was later extradited to the US. According to the North American press, she recruited and transported bags on commercial flights and then offered them for sale in the most sophisticated showrooms of New York –which is considered illegal.

“Everything is driven by money,” said Assistant US Attorney Thomas Watts-Fitzgerald, who compared the designer’s modus-operandi to that of drug traffickers. “If you want to stop the conduct, you want the cocaine kingpin, not the person in the field,” he added.

The defense of Gonzalez tries for leniency, arguing that she is a woman, entrepreneur, divorced and mother.

“She was determined to show her children and the world that women, including minority women like herself, can successfully pursue their dreams and become financially independent. Against all odds, this woman was able to create the first high-quality, luxury fashion company in a third world country,” her lawyers wrote in a pre-sentence brief on Monday.

Nancy’s defense also claims that her sentence, theoretically, has already been paid. At age 71, his company, which employed 300 employees, declared bankruptcy and stopped operating after his arrest. Furthermore, they argue that only 1% of their merchandise did not have proper authorization, and could easily be characterized as samples for New York Fashion Week, among other fashion events.

Source: Redação Terra