Etsy Seller Accused of Smuggling Goods Bound for Russia

A man arrested and accused of being part of a ring that smuggled goods to Europe bound for Russia also happened to run an Etsy shop with his wife from their suburban home in New Hampshire, according to media reports.

The Department of Justice unsealed the indictment on Tuesday and announced it was charging five Russian nationals, including a suspected FSB officer and two US nationals, with helping the Russian military and intelligence agencies evade sanctions. (Russia’s FSB is the successor agency to the Soviet Union’s KGB.)

The New Hampshire man was accused in the indictment of accepting sensitive military-grade and export-controlled items, repackaging them, fabricating shipping documents and invoices, and forwarding the items to intermediate locations in Europe and Asia, from where they were transshipped to Russia. His wife was not charged.

Neighbors of the man told Boston TV station WCVB that they had seen a lot of boxes delivered to the home but never questioned the activity because the couple ran an online business out of their residence.

Etsy sellers immediately began discussing the case, and wondered if there would be implications for Etsy or Etsy sellers. They pointed to a report in the New York Post that said the couple ran CoolHouzGifts, an Etsy business specializing in care packages. Six customers who had placed one of the sellers’ items in their shopping carts but had yet to complete their purchase may be disappointed – the shop is now closed.

Defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Ina Steiner

Ina Steiner is co-founder and Editor of EcommerceBytes and has been reporting on ecommerce since 1999. She's a widely cited authority on marketplace selling and is author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). Her blog was featured in the book, "Blogging Heroes" (Wiley 2008). She is a member of the Online News Association (Sep 2005 - present) and Investigative Reporters and Editors (Mar 2006 - present). Follow her on Twitter at @ecommercebytes and send news tips to ina@ecommercebytes.com. See disclosure at EcommerceBytes.com/disclosure/.