Searched but didn't find this postes.

This is interesting and problematic. Cohen has been a controversial figure.

https://www.thefirearmblog.com...-ron-cohen-arrested/

According to German media outlets, Sig Sauer USA CEO Ron Cohen was allegedly arrested in Frankfurt, Germany last month. Reports are attributing the arrest to a contract that supplied Columbian police with Sig SP 2022 pistols without an export license. At the time of the sales and deliveries, Columbia was experiencing a civil war. German authorities are alleging that Cohen and others falsified information to export the pistols in violation of the Foreign Trade Act.

TFB is working with Sig Sauer to obtain an official company statement related to the charges. We will bring you additional information as it becomes available.

SIG SAUER CEO RON COHEN ALLEGEDLY ARRESTED IN GERMANY
From NDR.de (translated):

The public prosecutor’s office Kiel has arrested the managing director of the American subsidiary of the Schleswig-Holstein armaments company Sig Sauer. The arms dealer is accused of having illegally delivered tens of thousands of pistols to Colombia in a responsible position. In the meantime, he was released on bail.

From NDR.de (translated):

Kiel District Court wants to prevent the US based arms manager from evading litigation against him and four other Sig-Sauer executives. When and if it will come to the process is still unclear. Currently, the main proceedings against Cohen, the two owners of the Sig-Sauer-Group, Michael Lüke and Thomas Ortmeier living in Germany, and other responsible persons are not yet opened.

From NDR.de (translated):

The prosecution Kiel accuses the defendants to have delivered more than 30,000 pistols without appropriate permission first in the US and from there to the then civil war country Colombia. This was a violation of the Foreign Trade Regulation, which would be punished with imprisonment of up to five years or a fine. The SP 2022 pistols are now used by the Colombian National Police.

From KN–Online.de (translated):

Infringements of the Foreign Trade Ordinance are punishable by imprisonment of up to five years or fines. The SP 2022 pistols are now used by the Colombian National Police, according to the prosecution.

The prosecution filed a lawsuit in April against Cohen and four other Sig Sauer executives. They are said to have delivered more than 30,000 pistols to the US and from there to what was then the civil war country of Colombia . Sig Sauer is said to have made false figures for export licenses from 2009 to 2012.

Arrested last month, and no one knew about it until now?

Hmmmm. I would like to see him replaced, but not at the expense of the Sig Sauer brand.

Maybe some other outlet had it, but I just saw it when I posted, and the post is marked two hours ago.

Outside the gun world, this isn't big news.

Edit: Link to German new site. You'll need to translate it if you don't read German.

http://www.kn-online.de/Nachri...ar-in-Kiel-in-U-Haft

Posted five million Euros bail and was released on 26 October. Assumed to have left Germany in the meantime, but expected to return for the trial, though the date has not been set. Apparently he had an arrest warrant out for him since August. Prosecutors also charged German SIG Sauer Group owners Michael Lüke and Thomas Ortmeier in the case, as well as two others for which the court however rejected to open proceedings (the prosecution can still object to that). Seems nobody sought much publicity on the issue; authorities merely confirmed the information upon media inquiry now.

quote:

Originally posted by BBMW:
Maybe some other outlet had it, but I just saw it when I posted, and the post is marked two hours ago.

Outside the gun world, this isn't big news.

Edit: Link to German new site. You'll need to translate it if you don't read German.

http://www.kn-online.de/Nachri...ar-in-Kiel-in-U-Haft

Translated by Google

Sig-Sauer-Manager was in custody in Kiel

The managing director of the US sister company of the German arms manufacturer Sig Sauer, Ron Cohen, was arrested in October in Frankfurt. Afterwards he was transferred to Kiel. The prosecution had filed an indictment against him in April for arms sales to Colombia.

Kiel / Eckernförde
Ron Cohen of Sig Sauer in the United States was released after two weeks against payment of a bail of five million euros back from pre-trial detention, confirmed a spokesman for the prosecutor Kiel on Friday information from the research network of NDR, WDR and "Süddeutsche Zeitung" .

Million bail as collateral

The district court Kiel wants to prevent with the bail in million-height that the weapon dealer living in the US escapes a lawsuit against him and four further Sig-Sauer responsible ones. When and if it will come to the process, according to NDR is still unclear.

Currently, the main proceedings against Cohen, the two owners of the Sig-Sauer-Group, Michael Lüke and Thomas Ortmeier living in Germany, and other responsible persons are not yet opened.

Background: Weapons delivery to Colombia

The prosecution filed a lawsuit in April against Cohen and four other Sig Sauer executives. They are said to have delivered more than 30,000 pistols to the US and from there to what was then the civil war country of Colombia . Sig Sauer is said to have made false figures for export licenses from 2009 to 2012. The SP 2022 pistols are now used by the Colombian National Police, according to the prosecution.

The 57-year-old arms dealer Ron Cohen has been a Europe-wide arrest warrant since August 2018. In October was arrested in Frankfurt and transferred to Kiel. The public prosecutor's office Kiel is responsible, since Sig Sauer has its seat in Eckernförde in Germany.

What could threaten Cohen

Infringements of the Foreign Trade Ordinance are punishable by imprisonment of up to five years or fines. On Friday, the district court of Kiel announced that it had now severed the case against two of the defendants and had not admitted the charges against them. "The background is that these two defendants from the point of view of the criminal court is not a sufficient connection of their responsibility and activity with verifiable acts," explained a court spokeswoman. The charges against Cohen are still valid.

About admission of the indictment not yet decided

The Third Large Criminal Division - the Economic Criminal Division - of the District Court has not yet decided on the possible opening of the main proceedings and the admission of the indictment against the three other defendants.

And isn't this the CEO of the company that has the contract to provide handguns to the US military? Oops...

Why the heck would Cohen be in Germany knowing full well that SIG had been under investigation for years over the sale to Columbia. That whole charge was absurd anyway since SIG did it at the instruction of the Pentagon.

quote:

Originally posted by Fundman:
That whole charge was absurd anyway since SIG did it at the instruction of the Pentagon.

The export permisson was granted for the commercial market in the US, not for the support of US interests in Columbia. When it´s ture what you are saying, SIG Sauer provided false information to the German authorities by violating export regulations. Columbia is not the US commercial market.

It´s like telling your wife you´r goning to visit a friend abroad, but forget to tell her it´s your former girl friend.

quote:

Originally posted by OTD:
It´s like telling your wife you´r goning to visit a friend abroad, but forget to tell her it´s your former girl friend.

I know funny, and THAT IS FUNNY!!!!

Looks like the Germans are pissed the SP2022s went from Germany to American, then from American to Columbia.

If SIG knew the German government was going to get it's panties in a bunch about selling some German made pistols to Colombia, they just should have made them in New Hamster. Now this is going to be a much bigger issue than it should have been.

quote:

Originally posted by RHINOWSO:

quote:

Originally posted by OTD:
It´s like telling your wife you´r goning to visit a friend abroad, but forget to tell her it´s your former girl friend.

I know funny, and THAT IS FUNNY!!!!

Looks like the Germans are pissed the SP2022s went from Germany to American, then from American to Columbia.

quote:

Originally posted by BBMW:
If SIG knew the German government was going to get it's panties in a bunch about selling some German made pistols to Colombia, they just should have made them in New Hamster. Now this is going to be a much bigger issue than it should have been.

Agreed, but I don't recall when exactly they started making the 2022 in the USA. Might have been right around that time and maybe SIG had a shortfall, needed some filler product and figured Germany would be none the wiser if 5K of German made got mixed into the sale.

didn't sig sauer gmbh get busted selling pistols to saudia arabia, or syria a few years back.

quote:

Originally posted by DSgrouse:
didn't sig sauer gmbh get busted selling pistols to saudia arabia, or syria a few years back.

I don't recall the specifics but there was some drama in Germany about SIG or HK's selling habits.

quote:

Originally posted by RHINOWSO:

quote:

Originally posted by DSgrouse:
didn't sig sauer gmbh get busted selling pistols to saudia arabia, or syria a few years back.

I don't recall the specifics but there was some drama in Germany about SIG or HK's selling habits.

I thought that is why we don't get sig gmbh pistols imported here any more. Circa 2013 arab spring kind of time frame

quote:

Originally posted by DSgrouse:

quote:

Originally posted by RHINOWSO:

quote:

Originally posted by DSgrouse:
didn't sig sauer gmbh get busted selling pistols to saudia arabia, or syria a few years back.

I don't recall the specifics but there was some drama in Germany about SIG or HK's selling habits.

I thought that is why we don't get sig gmbh pistols imported here any more. Circa 2013 arab spring kind of time frame

The ban was imposed only on SIG Germany to SIG USA. Private exporters are not affected. Those German guns are still coming over here, just not via SIG ---> SIG.

I should have clarified that. Yes, I understand private importers are coming in. That the ban was sig gmbh to sig usa. My point was this seems to be a bit of a retribution thing, or simply a current german political move against its own small arms industry.

quote:

Originally posted by DSgrouse:

quote:

Originally posted by RHINOWSO:

quote:

Originally posted by DSgrouse:
didn't sig sauer gmbh get busted selling pistols to saudia arabia, or syria a few years back.

I don't recall the specifics but there was some drama in Germany about SIG or HK's selling habits.

I thought that is why we don't get sig gmbh pistols imported here any more. Circa 2013 arab spring kind of time frame

Yup. No more toys from the Mastershop cuz the big boys fucked everything up. Bought one of the last models available at the Pro Shop when the SHTF. I recall no Sig employees willing to say why there would be no more imports.

Sig Sauer's statement, via The Firearm Blog:

quote:

"Following a sensationalized story in several German media outlets, Sig Sauer, Inc. has released the following statement concerning firearms sent to the Colombian National Police:

More than ten years ago Sig Sauer, Inc. (Newington, NH) signed a contract with the United States Department of Defense for handguns that the DoD would later export to the Colombian National Police under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program and in compliance with U.S. law. The purpose for these handguns was to help the Colombian Government fight the global war on drugs.

Currently, a German court in the northern town of Kiel is examining whether the sale of handguns allegedly manufactured by Sig Sauer GmbH (Germany), then sold to Sig Sauer, Inc., then sold and shipped to the United States Department of Defense and exported to the Colombian National Police pursuant to the U.S. Government's FMS program potentially violated German export policy.

Sig Sauer's CEO was temporarily detained and released as part of this export policy inquiry."

http://www.thefirearmblog.com/...uer-statement-cohen/

So if the pistols were delivered to the U.S. Government, and the U.S. Government decided to export them to Colombia, how is Sig Sauer in either Germany or New Hampshire supposed to be on the hook here? There's nothing SIG can do to control where the pistols go once they're delivered to a sovereign government - which the U.S. government certainly is. Is SIG basically being punished because the German government is pissed about something the U.S. government did but can't do anything to the U.S. government about it?

German arms export laws are generally prickly. The basic rule is don't, unless you have satisfactorily established that it's not going to increase existing tensions in a region, be used in aggressive conflict, and these days also for human rights violations (the current German government wrote into its coalition agreement to stop all shipments to any party involved in the Yemen war, and just slapped a two-month ban even for stuff already greenlighted for Saudi Arabia over the Kashoggi affair).

There is a blank waiver for NATO and EU members as well as allies of equal standing, namely Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and, in practice if not so much words, Israel. But even authorizations for those are now dependent upon end user certificates assuring the stuff is not going to be passed on to others, sorta like under ITAR (whatever good that is). HK once even got in trouble for guns from a shipment to Mexican federal authorities showing up with police in the state of Chiapas, which was deemed a crisis area for the human rights situation there.