MIAMI — A celebrated Colombian designer accused of shipping luxury handbags made of exotic reptile skins to the United States has pleaded guilty to a smuggling indictment rather than make a plea deal because her defense lawyer says U.S. prosecutors would not agree with her version of the evidence.
Nancy Teresa Gonzalez de Barberi, who sold her bags for more than $2,000 each to the likes of Britney Spears, Salma Hayek and Victoria Beckham, will argue at her sentencing in February that the merchandise her company sent to high-end New York retailers was made with skins from farm-raised reptiles such as caiman and python, not from protected wildlife species — contrary to the prosecutors’ view of the evidence.
