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While no charges have yet been filed, NashvillePost.com is reporting that earlier today, Federal agents and local police seized wood, guitars, computers and files from Gibson Guitar's Massman Road manufacturing facility in Nashville.
Sources say the guitar manufacturer is being investigated for violating the Lacey Act, a key piece of environmental law, for importing endangered species of rosewood from Madagascar.
Rosewood is widely used in the construction of guitars and sells for $5,000 per cubic meter, more than double the price of mahogany. The island nation off Africa's east coast is a key producer of the hardwood, the export of which has links to international criminal activity.
Madagascar has struggled financially since a January coup and new President Andry Rajoelina issued an executive order in September legalizing the export of rosewood and ebony. The move was decried by environmental groups and political leaders worldwide, as hardwood forests are key to Madagascar's unique ecology and serve as a habitat for a dwindling lemur population.
Sources have told NashvillePost.com that Gibson was involved in a scheme that shipped the wood from Madagascar to Germany and then to the United States. | 
