338
Opinion of the Court
spondent's violation was unrelated to any other illegal activities. The money was the proceeds of legal activity and was to be used to repay a lawful debt. Whatever his other vices, respondent does not fit into the class of persons for whom the statute was principally designed: He is not a money launderer, a drug trafficker, or a tax evader.13 See Brief
for United States 2-3. And under the Sentencing Guidelines, the maximum sentence that could have been imposed on respondent was six months, while the maximum fine was $5,000. App. to Pet. for Cert. 17a (transcript of District Court sentencing hearing); United States Sentencing Commission, Guidelines Manual § 5(e)1.2, Sentencing Table
"fable[s]" that respondent told one month, or six months, later. See post, at 352. The Government indicted respondent under 18 U. S. C. § 1001 for "lying," but that separate count did not form the basis of the nonreporting offense for which § 982(a)(1) orders forfeiture.
Further, the District Court's finding that respondent's lies stemmed from a fear of the Government because of "cultural differences," supra, at 326, does not mitigate the gravity of his offense. We reject the dissent's contention that this finding was a "patronizing excuse" that "demeans millions of law-abiding American immigrants by suggesting they cannot be expected to be as truthful as every other citizen." Post, at 353. We are confident that the District Court concurred in the dissent's incontrovertible proposition that "[e]ach American, regardless of culture or ethnicity, is equal before the law." Ibid. The District Court did nothing whatsoever to imply that "cultural differences" excuse lying, but rather made this finding in the context of establishing that respondent's willful failure to report the currency was unrelated to any other crime--a finding highly relevant to the determination of the gravity of respondent's offense. The dissent's charge of ethnic paternalism on the part of the District Court finds no support in the record, nor is there any indication that the District Court's factual finding that respondent "distrust[ed] . . . the Government," see supra, at 326, was clearly erroneous.
13 Nor, contrary to the dissent's repeated assertion, see post, at 344, 346- 351, 354, 356, is respondent a "smuggl[er]." Respondent owed no customs duties to the Government, and it was perfectly legal for him to possess the $357,144 in cash and to remove it from the United States. His crime was simply failing to report the wholly legal act of transporting his currency.
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