Boise Cascade Company

Boise Cascade was sentenced to pay a fine of $6,382,000, representing twice the gross profits it derived from the illegal wood, and must implement a compliance plan. This is the third federal criminal enforcement action to come out of this large-scale duty evasion scheme. Horizon Plywood principals Noel and Kelsy Quintana were sentenced in February 2024 for conspiracy and Lacey Act violations.

The Boise Cascade Company pleaded guilty and was sentenced for a felony violation of the Lacey Act for its role in a timber trafficking scheme to evade countervailing and anti-dumping duties. Boise Cascade purchased hardwood plywood from Horizon Plywood knowing the wood was illegally imported from China through transshipment via Malaysia.

Between 2018 and 2021, Boise Cascade's Pompano, Florida distribution center purchased more than $30 million in hardwood plywood from Horizon Plywood. Boise Cascade knew that Horizon had previously tried to hide the origin of the wood by transshipping products from China to Malaysia, where they moved product into new containers, and then to Malaysia to the United States. Even after Boise Cascade learned that a federal search warrant was executed at Horizon's warehouse in South Florida in January 2021, it placed at least 10 new orders in the two weeks following the search warrant. The scheme defrauded taxpayers of import duties and undercut law-abiding competitors by importing and selling between $25 million and $65 million worth of plywood products.