A top fashion designer has been sentenced to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty to charges of smuggling crocodile handbags from Colombia.

A top fashion designer has been sentenced to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty to charges of smuggling crocodile handbags from Colombia.

Nancy Gonzalez, a Colombian citizen in her 70s, was extradited to the US earlier this year following her 2022 arrest for running a sprawling multiyear conspiracy that involved recruiting couriers to transport her handbags on commercial flights to high-end showrooms and New York fashion events, all in violation of U.S. wildlife laws.

The designer, whose website cites her ‘innovative use of precious skins’, sold her wares to the upper echelons of Hollywood society, with major names including Salma Hayek and Kris Jenner, and the cast of Sex and the City, all seen sporting her expensive bags

‘It´s all driven by the money,’ said Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Watts-Fitzgerald, who compared Gonzalez’s behavior to that of drug traffickers. ‘If you want to deter the conduct, you want the cocaine kingpin, not the person in the field.’

Prosecutors countered that Gonzalez had acquired great wealth and an opulent lifestyle, which contrasted with the couriers she recruited to smuggle her merchandise into the United States. The couriers were instructed to say that the items were gifts for their relatives if they were asked any questions by customs agents.

‘Her mission turned into producing felons,’ said Watts-Fitzgerald. ‘She tried to rewrite the law for herself, to do it her way.’

According to the testimony of her co-defendants and former employees, ahead of important fashion events, Gonzalez, described as a micro-manager, would recruit as many as 40 passengers to carry four designer handbags each on commercial flights.