Nonsense, grey market doesn’t mean shadowy. It means parallel or secondary market. Ebay is full of grey market goods. Buy something on clearance at an authorized retailer and resell it. Buy the inventory of a business shutting down and resell it. You are grey market. No illegal acts have been committed.
If there is no Madagascar Ebony available from the government authorized exporters due to scarecity, you would turn to the grey market to find someone who purchased it legally and buy it from them.
This would be no surprise as I imagine knowledgeable exporting companies might invest in whatever legal ebony becomes available and stockpile it to trade in at profit.
When you made that statement, did you have any source - any at all - for that, other than Gibson's press release?
I said, and I quote "I don't know that it's a black-and-white case that Gibson "legally imported" the Madagascar Rosewood seized in the first raid."
When you made the statement, did you know about the internal email saying "all legal timber and wood exports [from Madagacar] are prohibited."
When you made the statement, did you know that Gibson's ebony came into New Jersey without listing the country of origin on the paperwork?
When you made the statement, did you know the ebony was missing the Lacey tag as required by law?
When you made the statement, did you know the Madagascar government in charge at the time didn't authorize Gibson's source to deal in anything other than finished ebony products?
If you did, then how can you state that Gibson "legally imported" the Madagascar Rosewood seized in the first raid without any doubt?
If you didn't, then why were you making black and white statements without beginning to know the facts?
I'll say it again: "I don't know that it's a black-and-white case that Gibson "legally imported" the Madagascar Rosewood seized in the first raid."
Please. I love my Gibson electrics. I love my Gibson acoustic guitars. I love my Gibson F-5 mandolin. I love my Gibson banjos. How do you know that Gibson "legally imported" the Madagascar Rosewood seized in the first raid?