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…The DHL cargo plane with the first load of the fresh “Yesmoke” Made in Switzerland, ready to be cleared by customs, was blocked and all the cigarettes were confiscated. After 30 million cartons of Marlboros, the toy broke with the first carton of Yesmokes.
“The siege” at the New York's JFK
In 2004, while it was still selling Marlboros to its American customers, Yesmoke had built a factory in Switzerland, that had a yearly production capacity of 25 million cartons containing 200 cigarettes each.
On November 12th, 2004, the factory began its production of “Yesmokes”, a new brand of 100% natural Tobacco, provided with the expiration date; these were put on sale on the site, fresh, on the day following production. And the company sold more Yesmoke cigarettes than Marlboros.
The “smugglers” airplane
But on November 17th, 2004, here is what American newspapers reported: “no one had ever seen a blitz like this one: no less than nine Federal, State and local investigation agencies began an interminable inspection at New York's JFK Airport”.
View: Press Room – Archive for November, 2004
The DHL cargo plane that was transporting, for the Swiss Postal Service, the first load of the fresh, new Yesmoke cigarettes, ready to be cleared by customs, was blocked and all the cigarettes were confiscated. American buyers would never receive their Yesmoke orders.
But there is something incredible in this action: according to the press, the police said conducted a brilliant operation following a “tip”, that had revealed the presence of an airplane full of “smuggled” cigarettes that arrived every day from Switzerland. the Airline, according to the press, “had collaborated but no provisions were planned against it”.
The blitz led to the seizure of 150,000 cartons of cigarettes of various brands coming from the now famous online Tobacco Store; among these brands there were all the Yesmokes. The law-enforcement forces declared enthusiastically that this was “the largest seizure of smuggled cigarettes in the history of the State of New York”.
But couldn't these have been those well-known goods that Swiss Customs had tried repeatedly and in vain to have cleared by US customs since way back in 2000?
The events at the J.F. Kennedy Airport of New York seemed like those grotesque sequences of comic films worthy of Hollywood, where hundreds of agents, fully armed, attacked a DHL plane loaded with normal mail directed to American customs inspectors, packages provided with all the necessary documents and ready to be inspected.
And then, all the celebration for the great victory over “smuggling” , and all the press reports on this brilliant undertaking!
November 16th, 2004 marked the end of the Yesmoke sitès sales in the United States. From now on, in the name of the “fight against smuggling”, every carton of cigarettes coming from Switzerland was confiscated at the U.S. customs… with surprising efficiency. Big Tobacco had won,… for now.
Big Tobacco and its Italian friends
Shortly following the blitz at the New York's Kennedy airport, on friday, december 17th (the italians' unluckiest day of the year, like friday the 13th in Anglo Saxon countries), the Italian Financial police forces – the “Guardia di Finanza”, with an obvious threatening stance, raided the homes and offices in Italy of the owners and collaborators of Yesmoke and the offices of the Customer Service Dept., based on an alleged “investigation into smuggling” in Italy (the Procura – Attorney – of Imperia). This was soon followed by an inquiry for “mafia” activities (the Procura of Genoa).
In 1991, the Minister Rino Formica decided to prohibit the sale of Marlboro cigarettes in Italy
Can we imagine that they were acting, perhaps unaware, in the interest of the greatest smuggler of all time: Philip Morris.
On this occasion, the Italian press published false and totally unsubstantiated information about Yesmoke and its owners and collaborators.
The press and the italian authorities demonstrated their superficiality and their inability to understand the real situation; they showed a total lack of critical sense, and servility to the multinational of tobacco, Philip Morris.
While american authorities were acting, at least, in the interest of an American manufacturer, their Italian colleagues were favouring a foreign company, officially recognised responsible, and unpunished, for colossal smuggling operations, and tax evasion, in their own country.
And based on the sentence of the Italian Supreme Court, December 21 2001, Philip Morris's total tax evasion amounts to 120 thousand billion old lire, equal to some 60 billion euros.
In 1991, the then Minister Rino Formica decided to prohibit the sale of Marlboro cigarettes in Italy, because of the colossal black market traffic of Marlboros, organised by Philip Morris itself, that used smuggling as an effective way to “penetrate the market”. Formica said: “Enough is enough! Philip Morris must understand that Italy is not a country of fools”.
That measure didn't last more than a few months, and the Minister too, didn't last long. The market penetration continued until the tobacco multinational reached over 50% of the Italian market. And Italy, still today, is a country of fools.
On the Swiss front: “Smoke Better”
In Switzerland Yesmoke's problems began on the eve of the attack of Philip Morris and they continue today.
In 2004 the accounts of Yesmoke Tobacco S.A. are in a Swiss bank that has asked not to be named.
The UBS, Banco di Lugano, Banca del Gottardo, Corner Bank, Credit Suisse, one after the other closed their doors to Yesmoke, or refused the client with absurd and puzzling excuses.
The same thing happened in Italy with the Istituto Bancario S. Paolo of Turin.
The concern is, in some cases, probably due to the risk that the bank could run with their accounts in U.S. banks, if its behaviour was disagreeable to the tobacco multinationals, but also sometimes it is due to the absurd fears of the bank official on duty.
But even without concrete direct risks, a legal actions of Philip Morris in the U.S. against foreign banks on any pretext could cost the bank millions of dollars in legal fees, whatever the final outcome. And it is well known that Philip Morris systematically starts up lawsuits against just about anyone, so… watch out!
The answers Yesmoke received from the banks ranged from, “wère sorry… but this is a product harmful to the health” or… “unfortunately there is a lawsuit in progress in America”, to, in the words of the San Paolo di Torino: “unfortunately there are two investigations under way in Italy…”.
These are not decisions made to respect the law; they reveal ignorance, lack of critical sense and obtuse provincialism.
Philip Morris, that has everyone bowing before it, has collected lawsuits and sentences for smuggling all over the world; but regardless of these, at home it's the boss, and what it owes to other countries around the world has no importance.
Luckily the Italian Unicredit Bank, accepted the Italian branch of Yesmoke, including the “mafia smugglers” among its corporate clients.
Yesmokes problems didn't end with its surrender at the Kennedy airport in New York on November 16th, 2004, they would continue in Switzerland: soon afterwards, all the Yesmoke cigarettes on sale in the Swiss territory had to be destroyed and the company was also fined.
The reason for this was the writing “Smoke Better” printed on the packets: “it is forbidden to give the impression that one product is less harmful than others”, said the Bellinzona Canton laboratory that issued this measure.
At this point in its battle against the tobacco multinational Philip Morris, Yesmoke was defeated on all fronts: the Online Store had had to stop selling because of the credit cards, the owners of Yesmoke Tobacco S.A. were being investigated for “smuggling” and “mafia” in Italy; they could no longer go to the United States without the risk of being arrested; and all Yesmoke's cigarettes had been withdrawn from the market and destroyed both in the United States and in Switzerland. But Yesmoke has not surrendered!
The Gray Market shop, the smuggler's store
It all began on that fateful November 16th 2004 at New York's JFK Airport, with a memorable raid, worthy of the most thrilling Hollywood productions.
Unfortunately, starting from that fateful blitz, all cigarettes coming from the Yesmoke Online Shop, whatever the brand and maker, were systematically confiscated as soon as they arrived on American soil in the name of the “fight against smuggling”.
And this in spite of the fact that the goods were always accompanied by all the necessary customs documents.
The “Gray market”
Yesmoke, finding it impossible to sell cigarettes retail online in the States, where it had most of its customers, found itself stuck with its warehouses full of millions of cartons of cigarettes.
It's clear to anyone that the parallel market, though completely legal, can be a source of supply for contraband. Moreover, manufacturers and authorities all agree that smuggling must be stopped, first of all, by not placing any more cigarettes on this market, but also, we would add, by removing those that are already there.
So, seeing that the goods continued to circulate in great quantities on the incriminated market, Yesmoke, after the JFK law officer blitz, acquired cigarettes, and stocked up its warehouse with the idea of offering the goods back to the manufacturers themselves, especially to Philip Morris.
The Marlboro maker struck its greatest blow on August 9th 2004, with its July 2004 Agreement with the European Commission, in which the Tobacco Giant undertook to pay 1.25 billion dollars to compensate, and close the issue of the damage done with cigarette smuggling.
OLAF, the European Police
On June 30th, 2005 Yesmoke wrote to Franz Hermann Bruener, director of the OLAF (the anti-fraud organism of the European Union ), and to Jan Walton, in charge of the Investigations & Operations Department, Customs Cigarette and Vat Section, asking what Yesmoke should do with over three million cartons of cigarettes purchased on the parallel market. Their answer was: “OLAF cannot compel a manufacturer or a company (Philip Morris) to purchase product from the market”.
In a subsequent courteous telephone conversation, Walton confirmed that “selling those goods was Yesmoke's right”, and he added that he fully agreed that Yesmoke had neither the authority nor the means to distinguish between “good” and “bad” customers.
Walton also asked Yesmoke to inform the OLAF, if possible, on the destination of the containers of cigarettes sold, so that investigations could be held, we suppose.
And Yesmoke expressed its willingness to provide all the information possible, “so long as this is not incompatible with the right to privacy of the buyers”.
…Funny, isn't it?
Will it always be this way?
The Gray Market Shop of the Yesmoke.ch site, that introduces itself with the slogan: Anyone can offer for sale and make a purchase, is a small case, but emblematic of the impotency of the civil world trying to face up to real organised crime that prevails all around the world.
Today, everything seems to rotate around the interests of tobacco multinationals; they have the power to violate laws with impunity anywhere in the world, without worrying at all about their bank accounts in any bank and in any part of the world.
