Frederik Barbieri, Gun Smuggling, FL 2024

Port St. Lucie resident Frederik Barbieri, 46, has been indicted on federal charges tied to a four-year scheme to funnel firearms, accessories, and ammunition to Brazil—stripped of serial numbers and shipped in secret packages. The indictment unsealed this week reveals a calculated operation to bypass U.S. export laws and profit from the illicit arms trade.

Barbieri faces four felony counts: conspiracy to commit offenses against the United States, shipping firearms without notifying carriers, smuggling arms to Brazil, and exporting weapons without a license. Each charge hits a different node in the criminal supply chain—from planning to packaging to profiteering. Authorities say the conspiracy ran from May 2013 to June 2017, during which time Barbieri and co-conspirators bought weapons, wiped their serials, and disguised them in parcels bound for Brazil.

According to the indictment, on May 26, 2017, Barbieri shipped a package containing concealed firearms and accessories to Brazil—no license obtained, no warning given to the carrier. That single act alone violates multiple federal statutes. The scheme relied on deception at every turn: obliterating traces, mislabeling shipments, and banking on the chaos of international logistics to slip through.

The case was jointly announced by U.S. Attorney Benjamin G. Greenberg, ICE-HSI Special Agent Mark Selby, ATF’s Peter J. Forcelli, and CBP’s Diane J. Sabatino. Their agencies have spent months dissecting the operation, tracing shipments, and building a case that now lands Barbieri before the federal bench. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian J. Shack is leading the prosecution.

If convicted, Barbieri faces up to five years on Counts 1 and 2, ten years on Count 3, and a staggering 20 years on Count 4. Sentences could stack, meaning decades behind bars. His initial appearance is set for February 27, 2018, at 1:30 p.m. before U.S. Magistrate Judge Chris M. McAliley in the Southern District of Florida.

An indictment is not a conviction—Barbieri is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Court documents are available via the Southern District of Florida’s public portal at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or through PACER at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov. The case shines a light on the underground pipelines feeding global gun violence—one stripped firearm at a time.