3 Pinoys indicted for selling fake Native American jewelry

Three Filipinos and four Americans were charged before a federal grand jury in Phoenix, Arizona, USA, for fraudulently selling jewelry imported from the Philippines and passing it as made by Native-Americans.

In a statement issued Friday, the United States Department of Justice said the conspirators had been carrying out the fraud and money-laundering scheme for several years in violation of federal laws, including the Indian Arts and Crafts Act (IACA).

The indictment identified the Filipinos as Mency Remedio, a factory manager in the Philippines, and Orlando Abellanosa and Ariel Adlawan Canedo, both of whom worked as jewelry smiths in the Philippines.

The justice department said that last Feb. 26, the jury returned a 38-count indictment against the defendants.

Also named as defendants were American nationals Richard Dennis Nisbet, 70, his daughter Laura Marye Lott, 31, both of Peoria, Arizona; Christian Coxon, 45, of Selma, Texas; and Waleed Sarrar, 43, of Chandler, Arizona

Citing the indictment papers, the department said the defendants and their conspirators used various jewelry businesses—including Last Chance Jewelers and LMN Jewelers—to design and manufacture jewelry in the Native-American style at factories in the Philippines where Filipinos made all of the jewelry.

“The conspirators allegedly took several measures to ensure that the jewelry resembled authentic Native American-made jewelry, including copying jewelry designs from genuine Native American artists, using traditional Native American motifs and symbols in the jewelry, and stamping the jewelry with the initials of alleged Native American artists,” it added.

The jewelry was imported into the US by FedEx, or smuggled by hand, or through the Philippine Postal System to destinations in Arizona.

From there, it was advertised and sold as authentic Native American jewelry at jewelry and crafts stores.

None of the jewelry items were indelibly marked with the country of origin as required by customs law.

The IACA prohibits the offer or display for sale, or the sale of goods in a manner that falsely suggests that it is Indian produced, an Indian product, or the product of a particular Indian and Indian tribe.

The USDOJ explained that the law is designed to prevent products from being marketed as “Indian made,” when the products are not, in fact, made by Indians.

The law covers all Indian and Indian-style traditional and contemporary arts and crafts produced after 1935, and broadly applies to the marketing of arts and crafts by any person in the United States.

IACA provides critical economic benefits for Native American cultural development by recognizing that forgery and fraudulent arts and crafts diminish the livelihood of Native American artists and craftspeople by lowering both market prices and standards.

The USDOJ clarified that an indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in court.