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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 Colombian police with Sig SP 2022 pistols without an export license. At the time of the sales and deliveries, Colombia 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
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.
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.
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.
