US Criminal Complaint Against DNA Plant Technology (fwd)

[Robert Weissman <rob@essential.org>]

Ross Hammond, the source for a good bit of what appears on intl-tobacco,
provides this version of the criminal complaint against DNA Plant
Technology in the Y-1 case. Ross copied this from Gene Borio's unbeatable
Tobacco BBS.

Robert Weissman
Essential Information			|   Internet:	rob@essential.org



United States of America v. DNA Plant Technology
                                     Corporation



UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 
v. 
DNA PLANT TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION

Criminal No. 

Violation: 
18 U.S.C. S 371 
(Conspiracy)



INFORMATION 

The United States hereby informs the Court:

COUNT ONE 
(Conspiracy)

At all times relevant to this Information:

1. Defendant DNA Plant Technology Corporation ("DNAP") was, a corporation
organized under the lawn of the state of
Delaware. DNAP was a biotechnology firm engaged in the development and
improvement of various plant species and
varieties through the use of advanced breeding and genetic engineering
techniques. Until in or about 1994, DNAP's principal
place of business was located in Cinnamonson, New Jersey. In or about 1994,
DNAP moved its principal place of business
to Oakland, California.

2. A co-conspirator* of the defendant, known to the United States, was a
corporation engaged in the business of
manufacturing cigarettes and other tobacco products for sale in the United
States and abroad. Throughout this Information,
this corporation will be referred to as "Tobacco Company."

1

Factual Background

3. In or about 1983, Tobacco Company entered into a contract with DNAP ("the
contract"). Pursuant to the contract,
DNAP was to use biotechnology to develop and improve different varieties of
tobacco plants for USQ by Tobacco
Company. Among the goals specified in that contract we" the [a]lteration of
chemical composition of tobacco lines" which
"could include production of lines with elevated nicotine content . . . . "

4. In or about April of 1985, the contract was expanded and modified. The
"[d]evelopment of commercial high nicotine
varieties" of tobacco was listed as the first goal of the expanded contract.

5. From in or about 1983 through in or about 1994, DNAP did in fact,
pursuant to the contract, work for Tobacco Company
on the breeding, development, and agronomic improvement of various varieties
of tobacco that contained elevated levels of
nicotine.

6. One variety of flue-cured tobacco that was a subject of the contract had
a nicotine level of about 6%, which is about twice
the normal nicotine level of flue-cured tobacco Tobacco Company gave this
high-nicotine tobacco the code name Y-1 and
provided it to DNAP, which worked on Y-1 pursuant to the contract.

7. In or about 1984, Tobacco Company informed DNAP that a good portion of
the work on Y-1 tobacco would be done in
Brazil, where an affiliate of Tobacco Company was located. (Throughout

2

this Information, this affiliate will be referred to as "Brazilian Tobacco
Company"). Performing the work in Brazil served
several purposes: a) it helped conceal the Y-1 work from competitors of
Tobacco Company and other outside parties; b)
because the growing season in Brazil takes place during what are the winter
months in the U.S., working on the tobacco in
both the U.S. and Brazil allowed DNAP and Tobacco Company to grow two crops
a year instead of just one and allowed
the research to progress more rapidly; and c) because domestic regulations
prohibited the commercial growing or such a
high-nicotine tobacco variety in the U.S., commercial quantities of Y-1
could only be grown in another country, such as
Brazil.

8 Tobacco Company was also interested in exploring other possible locations
outside the United States for growing Y-1
tobacco. During the course of the contract, at different times Tobacco
Company grew, or attempted to grow, Y-1 in several
other countries, including Nicaragua, Honduras, Chile, Nigeria, and Canada.

9. In order to grow Y-1 in Brazil and other countries, it was necessary for
DNAP and/or Tobacco Company to get seed for
Y-1 into those countries.

10. Until December of 1991, under United States law, it was a crime to
export tobacco seed or living tobacco plants outside
of the United States, with limited exceptions not relevant here. This law
was codified at 7 U.S.C.. S 516 and will be referred
to in this Information as the "Tobacco Seed Export law." The

3

Tobacco Seed Export law was repealed, effective on or about December 13, 1991. 

The conspiracy

11. From in or about 1984, and continuing through in or about July, 1991,
the exact dates being unknown to the United
States, the defendant DNAP knowingly and willfully combined, conspired,
confederated, and agreed with Tobacco
Company, Brazilian Tobacco Company, and with officers and employees of DNAP,
Tobacco Company, and Brazilian
Tobacco Company, known and unknown to the United States, to commit an
offense against the United States, that is, to
export tobacco seed from the United States to a foreign country, port, or
place, without a written permit granted by the
Secretary of Agriculture, in violation of the Tobacco Seed Export law, Title
7, United States Code, Section 516.

The Goals of the Conspiracy

12. It was a goal of the conspiracy that Tobacco Company and DNAP would
illegally export tobacco seed to Brazil and
other countries in order to further the research being conducted under the
contract into the growth and improvement of Y-1
and other highnicotine varieties of tobacco.

13. It was further a goal of the conspiracy that Tobacco Company and/or DNAP
would illegally export Y-1 seed to other
countries, including Nicaragua, Honduras, Chile, Nigeria, Costa

4

Rica, Argentina, Zimbabwe and Canada, in order to explore whether or not
these were good locations for growing and
producing Y-1 tobacco.

14. It was further a goal of the conspiracy that Tobacco Company, by
violating the Tobacco Seed Export law in order to
grow Y-1 and other high-nicotine tobaccos, would develop a reliable source
of supply of high-nicotine tobaccos that
Tobacco Company could then use to control and manipulate the nicotine levels
in its cigarettes.

15. It was further a goal of the conspiracy that DNAP and Tobacco Company
would conceal from the United States and
from third parties the fact that tobacco seed was being illegally exported
to Brazil and other countries by DNAP and Tobacco
Company.

The Manner and Means Used to Further the Goals of the Conspiracy

The conspiracy was accomplished through the following manners and means,
among others:

16. DNAP and Tobacco Company illegally smuggled and exported tobacco seed to
Brazil and other foreign countries
through a variety of methods:

a) DNAP and Tobacco Company, through their employees, packaged Y-1 seed and
other tobacco seed and illegally
shipped it to Brazil and other countries by air express or courier;

5

b) Employees of DNAP and Tobacco Company smuggled seed of Y-1 and other
tobacco varieties to Brazil during trips to
Brazilian Tobacco Company, by concealing the seed in their luggage or on
their person;

c) DNAP and Tobacco Company, through their employees, packaged seed of Y-1
and other tobacco seed and provided it
to employees of Brazilian Tobacco Company who were visiting the United
States, knowing and intending that these
employees would smuggle the seed back to Brazil;

d) DNAP, through its employees packaged seed of Y-1 and other tobacco seed
and sent it to Tobacco company, which then
would arrange for that seed to be illegally transported to Brazil, Honduras,
Chile, Nicaragua, and other countries.

17. At the direction of Tobacco Company, DNAP used "code words" in its
internal documents and its reports to Tobacco
Company, to conceal the fact that seed was being illegally exported. For
example, DNAP would refer to the plantings in
Brazil simply as the "winter trials" without mentioning the location, and
would refer to seed being sent to Brazil not as seed but
as "special material." Tobacco Company also used these terms in its own
internal documents and in correspondence with
DNAP and Brazilian Tobacco Company.

6

18. During the 1994 investigation of the tobacco industry by the United
States Food and Drug Administration ("FDA"),
DNAP knowingly and willfully concealed information about the contract from
the FDA, including the fact that tobacco seed
had been illegally exported to Brazil and other countries by DNAP and
Tobacco Company.

Overt Acts

19. In furtherance of the conspiracy and to accomplish its goals, defendant
DNAP, Tobacco Company, and other
co-conspirators committed and caused to be committed the following overt
acts, among others.

A. On or about August 13, 1984, an employee of DNAP shipped tobacco seed to
an employee of Tobacco Company, to be
used for conducting field trials in Brazil.

B. In or about March, 1985, employees of DNAP or Tobacco Company caused a
quantity of tobacco seed to be illegally
sent to Brazil.

C. On or about July 18, 1987, an employee of DNAP provided Y-1 seed to an
employee of Brazilian Tobacco Company,
knowing and intending that this employee would and did smuggle that seed
back to Brazil.

D. In or about December, 1987, employees of DNAP or Tobacco Company
illegally sent five grams of Y-1 seed to
Honduras.

7

E. In or about July, 1988, an employee of DNAP illegally sent two shipments
of tobacco seed, including Y-1 seed, to Brazil.

F. In or about July, 1988, employees of Tobacco Company caused Y-1 seed to
be illegally sent to Venezuela, Honduras,
Costa Rica, and Zimbabwe.

G. on or about September l, 1988, employees of Tobacco Company illegally
sent Y-1 seed to Brazilian Tobacco Company.

H. In or about January, 1989, an employee of DNAP illegally hand-carried Y-1
seed to Canada.

I. In or about July, 1989, an employee of DNAP illegally shipped 13 pounds
of Y-1 seed to Brazil.

J. On or about May 22, 1990, an employee of DNAP provided about 12 pounds of
Y-1 seed to an employee of Brazilian
Tobacco Company, knowing and intending that the employee would and did
smuggle the seed back to Brazil.

K. In or about July, 1990, an employee of DNAP provided Y-1 seed to an
individual knowing and intending that this
individual would and did smuggle that seed to Brazil.

L. On or about July 26, 1990, an employee of Tobacco Company arranged for a
courier to deliver Y-1 seed to Brazilian
Tobacco Company, and informed DNAP of that fact.

M. On or about June 18, 1991, an employee of Tobacco Company wrote to an
employee of Brazilian Tobacco Company to
inform him that the Y-1 seed would soon be arriving, stating

8

that "[s]pecial materials will be handled as done last year. "

N. On or about July 17, 1991, an employee of DNAP provided Y-1 seed to an
employee of Brazilian Tobacco Company
who was in the United States, knowing and intending that the employee would
and did smuggle that seed back to Brazil. In a
cover letter accompanying the seed, the DNAP employee stated: "Enclosed
please find the special materials required for the
1991-1992 winter trials."

MARY LOU LEARY 
United States Attorney for the District of Columbia

RANDALL D. ELIASON 
Assistant U.S. Attorney 
D.C. Bar #394411 
555 4th St. N.W.. 
Washington, DC 20001 
(202) 514-9832

MARY C. SPEARING 
Chief, Fraud Section 
Criminal Division 
U,S. Department of Justice

BARBARA CORPREW 
Deputy Chief, Fraud Section

JIMMYE S. WARREN, DC Bar #430784 
KAREN TAYLOR 
Senior Trial Attorneys 
Fraud Section, Criminal Division 
U.S.. Department of Justice 
1400 New York Avenue N.W. 
Washington, DC 20005 
(202) 305-1881

9



*Note: Brown & Williamson has admitted it is the unnamed co-conspirator: "We
accept that we were party to a technical
infringement of a law which was subsequently repealed. It looks like pretty
desperate stuff by the department." (Jan. 8, 1998) 
--gb 


END OF DOCUMENT