Lame report, but an update:

Union County Brothers Indicted On Weapons Charges

POSTED: 10:57 p.m. EDT September 30, 2004

Union Co. -- Two brothers from Union county now face additional charges for selling thousands of machine guns across the country.

A federal grand jury charged Ulrich Wiegand and his brother Oliver with 84 counts ranging from illegally importing and selling machine guns to money laundering.


The indictment says they hid the illegal weapons sales from the government by calling the guns "part kits."

If convicted, the brothers face more than a hundred years in prison and millions of dollars in fines.

You kind of saw this comming.  Credit card is waiting for the "need money for my legal fees" sale.

Got a link to more info on this?

What were they selling,  was it really a parts kit,  did it include a receiver,  was the receiver properly destroyed, etc.....?


CJ

Older news release. to bring everyone up to speed



NEWS RELEASE
February 5, 2004 For further information
Contact Suellen W. Pierce
(704) 338-3120


CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- United States Attorney Robert J. Conrad, Jr., Special Agent in Charge of ATF, Charlotte Field Division, Lester D. Martz, and Special Agent in Charge of the Charlotte Office of the IRS Criminal Investigation Division, Michael J. Thomas, announced that Ulrich H. Wiegand, 34, Oliver M. Wiegand, 37, Interordnance of America, L.P., and related companies, were indicted on Tuesday, February 3, 2004, by a federal grand jury sitting in Charlotte on 83 counts alleging conspiracy, illegal importation of machineguns, illegal possession and transfer of machineguns, structuring, and money laundering. The charges involve the Wiegand brothers' federally licensed firearms business, Interordnance of America, L.P., located in Monroe, North Carolina, as well as foreign companies located in Witten, Germany and Ferlach, Austria, at one time owned and controlled by the Wiegand brothers.


According to the indictment, Ulrich and Oliver Wiegand are German nationals who established Interordnance of America in June 1995 as a firearms importation business and used the business to illegally import machineguns into the United States as machinegun component parts. According to the indictment, Ulrich and Oliver Wiegand also owned and controlled two foreign companies Wiegand Ordnance GmbH, located in Witten, Germany and Interordnance Waffenhandel GmbH, located in Ferlach, Austria, which were used by Ulrich and Oliver Wiegand to illegally import Russian-made PPSH 41 machinegun component parts into the United States for subsequent sale by Interordnance of America. In addition, the indictment alleges that Ulrich and Oliver Wiegand also illegally imported FN FAL IMBEL and STEYR MP69 machineguns. The indictment alleges that Ulrich and Oliver Wiegand imported the machinegun component parts knowing that the machineguns had not been destroyed according to ATF specifications. Further, the indictment alleges that Ulrich and Oliver Wiegand sold these machineguns as parts kits to customers throughout the United States knowing that the component parts could be assembled as functional machineguns. According to the indictment, Ulrich and Oliver Wiegand, through Interordnance of America, sold over 2000 PPSH 41, over 1000 FN FAL IMBEL and over 500 STEYR MP69 machineguns to customers throughout the United States without conducting any background checks and without recording any ownership registration information with the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record.


The indictment also alleges that Ulrich and Oliver Wiegand and Interordnance of America structured cash deposits in less than $10,000 increments in order to avoid the filing of currency transaction reports which is required by financial institutions. In addition, the indictment alleges that Ulrich and Oliver Wiegand and Interordnance of America used monies from the sales of the illegally imported machineguns in financial transactions to pay importation expenses, income tax expenses, and payments to a German bank account in violation of money laundering laws.


The indictment includes a Notice of Forfeiture that asks that the defendants be required to forfeit to the United States all of the property involved in the offenses charged in the indictment and all property traceable to such offenses.

If convicted, the defendants face maximum statutory penalties as noted on the bill of indictment attached to this announcement. It is important to note that any sentence received upon conviction will be determined by the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. Under U.S. Sentencing Guidelines the court determines each defendant's actual sentence based upon a formula that takes into account the severity and characteristics of the offense, and each defendant's criminal history, if any.


The indictment is the result of a two-year investigation by special agents of ATF, the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and IRS/CID. Lester Martz, Special Agent in Charge of the Charlotte Field Division of ATF, said, "ATF takes the illegal importation, possession, and transfer of machineguns very seriously. We will continue to identify and investigate any individual or company that engages in this type activity. Many communities across the country are much safer as a result of this investigation." Special Agent Charge Michael Thomas of the Charlotte IRS/CID operations added that, "IRS/CID, together with the law enforcement community, are united in our resolve to prosecute and otherwise remove the financial incentive to commit this type of crime." Bob Conrad, United States Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina summed it up by adding, "The illegal importation, possession, and transfer of fully automatic machineguns pose a serious risk to law enforcement and other citizens. We will vigorously prosecute any attempt to smuggle illegal weapons into this country."


DEFENDANTS ARE ENTITLED TO A PRESUMPTION OF INNOCENCE UNDER THE LAW, AND THE GOVERNMENT HAS THE BURDEN OF PROVING EVERY ELEMENT OF THE CHARGES BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT.
ULRICH H. WIEGAND
DOB: 10/6/69
Indian Trail, North Carolina

OLIVER M. WIEGAND
DOB: 7/11/66
Indian Trail, North Carolina


This information is from the ATF web site.

I have bought parts from I/O and  personally I like there stuff.  I never had any bad deals with them.


Ken RSA

note:

the interord boys are being charged for importing and selling IMPROPERLY DEMILLED parts sets...not actual, functioning macgineguns.

these include the fal parts sets from both austria and argentina, the ppsh kits and the mp69 parts sets.

ken was one of the many folks that had the atf come visit to repo his kit to retrieve a partial receiver stub that was incorrectly cut.

the atf changed the demil requirements in january 2002, iirc.

note also:

the atf somehow supposedly managed to zip-tie a ppsh together and got it to fire. dunno how true that rumor is...but, i sure wouldn't want to be within 100 feet of that ppsh when it went bang.

I bet what gets them in the end is that they structured thier deposits, if they go to a jury court a decent lawyer will be able to show that the BATFE is FOS on teh machine gun charges, but they will be hosed for making sure they never put more than 10K into the bank at a time.

I'v bought some "MG kits" from I/O in the past, and can state with all honesty that they were the most butchered up POS that I'v ever seen.

i saw one of their fal kits and the receiver was trashed and missing the center section..still wasn't enough to make the atf happy, i guess. they can be darn picky about the rules and i've always found it prudent to err on the safe side of things, myself.

Sounds like injustice, to me.

Par for the course.  I guess they forgot to bribe their local BATF agent.

CJ

IOs reply:

http://www.falfiles.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=121971

The money laundering, tax evasion, structuring charges ARE related to the so-called illegal machine gun sales. Basically since InterOrdnance has been accused of illegal transactions involving machine guns(which is total BS)any related money involved with those transactions becomes money laundering, tax evasion, etc. Just another way for the US Attorneys to add on charges. Those transactions in which the Govt accuses InterOrdnance of the money and tax crimes were only InterOrdnance conducting normal business. All of the transactions in question had invoices or purchase orders attached. Also some of the original charges against InterOrdnance's owners have been dropped, but you don't hear or read about the Govt admitting a mistake or making the dropped charges public news.
The machine gun charges relate to parts sets sold by InterOrdnance which were approved by customs and ATF for import. Only after were the demill guidelines altered and ATF said they were still machine guns. Total BS. This is a test case to try and implement new laws which will restrict sales of parts sets. The fact that InterOrdnance owners are German Nationals made them an easy target, along with a little "support" to the ATF by a few choice members of the FAIR trade and import group whose businesses had been affected by InterOrdnance's product quality and lower prices.
Along with all the BS charges comes also an attempt to try and bankrupt InterOrdnance in the meantime, while awaiting their day in court, by freezing their money transfers to overseas vendors, delaying or denying import permits, and a all-out media campaign against them.
All this is your hard earned tax dollars at work .........which is nothing more than an attempt to infringe on the rights of the people by using our own resources against us.
If anyone here wants to know the truth and stand up for your rights contact the Office of the Inspector General and the Office of Professional Responsibility of the Dept. of Justice in D.C. and ask them about the BS charges against InterOrdnance.
FYI: The owners of InterOrdnance are released on bond and are prohibited from leaving the USA. They are anxiously awaiting their day in court and intend on defending themselves to the end. Let's see what becomes of this fine ATF fiasco.....