Federal grand jury indicts 5 over whale bone, ivory sales

A federal grand jury returned an indictment Tuesday charging a Hawaii souvenir wholesale and retail business, the company’s owner, employees and associates with illegally trafficking in whale bone and elephant and walrus ivory.

The indictment charges Hawaiian Accessories Inc. owner Curtis P. Wilmington, general manager and his daughter Kauilani Wilmington, manager Kauiokaala Chung, independent contractor Elmer Biscocho and Sergio T. Biscocho, the owner of a company that produces souvenirs, with violating the U.S. Endangered Species and Marine Mammal Protection acts and wildlife trafficking provision of the Lacey Act.

Prosecutors had already charged Sergio Biscocho with smuggling following a raid last month on Hawaiian Accessories’ warehouse in Iwilei.

A federal judge ordered Biscocho released to his brother Elmer on $100,000 bond, $30,000 of it in cash.

The government accused Biscocho of receiving raw whale bone and ivory at his business in the Philippines from Hawaii, carving them into souvenirs and jewelry and then illegally sending them back to Hawaii for sale by Hawaiian Accessories.

Hawaiian Accessories has retail outlets in Ala Moana Center, Outrigger Reef Hotel, Outrigger Waikiki on the Beach and Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort & Spa. The government says Hawaiian Accessories also sells wholesale packages and supplies to other businesses including Walmart and gift shops at Aulani, a Disney Resort & Spa in West Oahu.

Richard Hoke, lawyer for Hawaiian Accessories and Curtis Wilmington, says the business continues to operate even after the government seized some of its merchandise. He said the company also voluntarily took off its shelves items that it felt the government might deem questionable.

Tuesday’s indictment charges Hawaiian Accessories, Wilmington and Elmer Biscocho with exporting marine ivory to the Philippines from Hawaii. The indictment charges all of the defendants with importing carved whale bone and elephant and walrus ivory to Hawaii from the Philippines. It also charges Hawaiian Accessories and Curtis Wilmington with importing black coral jewelry and carvings from Mexico.

Hawaiian Accessories, Wilmington, Chung and Elmer Biscocho are charged with wildlife trafficking and Chung with false labeling for allegedly selling a walrus ivory fishhook as a “Made in Hawaii” product when in fact it had been carved in the Philippines.

According to the indictment, the defendants committed the crimes involving the whale bone and ivory after an undercover agent in Alaska sold raw walrus tusks and sperm whale teeth to Wilmington.