October 5, 2022

[REDACTED NAME AND ADDRESS]

Re: Albert Kwan

Dear [REDACTED]:

I’m writing to you on behalf of my friend Albert Kwan. [REDACTED]

I’m writing to ask for your help or guidance in Albert’s current legal situation. Specifically,
we’re trying to determine whether Albert has any legal recourse for the abuse he suffered at the hands
of federal investigators, bureaucrats, and prosecutors, including his unreasonable detention for
something like 60 days, malicious prosecution, destruction of his professional reputation, damage to his
military career, and loss of his Federal Firearms Licenses, all resulting in his loss of over a million
dollars in legal fees and property loss, not to mention opportunity losses, along with significant health
implications.

Some attorneys have said that there’s no case, while others agree that they think there should be
some recourse, but say it’s not their area of expertise, and so they’re not sure how to proceed.

With your broad experience and connections, we’re hoping that you can offer sound advice and
direction.

The short story is that Albert was caught up in the periphery of the Thomas Wales murder
investigation, back in the early 2000s. Investigators thought he might have some useful information,
and were apparently annoyed that Albert was not as cooperative as they thought he should be – refusing
to allow an unwarranted search of his home, and referring investigators to his attorney, as he’d been
advised to do – so they tried to pressure him to change his story and to implicate their only suspect at
the time. To do this, they detained Albert, with no charges, for a total of two months, searched his
home and business, finding nothing useful, then used those searches to trigger new searches by the
BATFE, which led to criminal charges which were used to extort Albert into implicating their suspect.

In the wake of the Wales murder, investigators determined that the murder weapon was an
inexpensive Makarov pistol fitted with a fairly common aftermarket barrel. Based on this, they
launched a nationwide search for every one of the thousands of these barrels the company had ever sold.
Their top suspect at the time was a pilot who lived in Bellevue, and it turned out that Albert, who also
lived in Bellevue, was one of the people who had purchased a Makarov barrel from the company.
Albert has always maintained that he only purchased one barrel, which he still had and volunteered to
the investigators, but they insisted that he had purchased two of the barrels, and were trying to get him
to implicate their suspect the pilot. The barrel purchase had taken place about 10 years prior to the
investigation and records were spotty at best.

After grabbing him at the airport as he was about to board a plane for a long-planned trip to
China (a routine trip he made a couple of times a year), he was held in a federal detention facility for 21
 Page 2
days, while news stories reported that he was an uncooperative, material witness in the Wales murder
investigation. His name was dragged through the mud, his reputation shattered, his military pension
put in jeopardy, his government security clearance pulled, his gun collection and business inventory
was searched twice, and even though he was a legal Title II collector and FFL with an extensive
collection of machine guns and other NFA items, he was charged with possession of an unregistered
machine gun and with possession of an unregistered short-barreled rifle. His ethnicity also appears to
have been a factor in the investigators’ actions.

It was made clear to Albert that, if he would just “cooperate” with investigators and tell them
what he had done with the “second barrel,” the gun charges would be dropped and he’d be allowed to
return home. It was also clear to Albert that by “cooperate,” the investigators meant that they wanted
him to say he had sold or given the barrel to their suspect the pilot, whom Albert had never met.

Among the numerous firearms and accessories owned by Albert and his business, including a
significant collection of Makarov pistols, investigators found a semi-auto M-14 rifle which they
claimed had been illegally converted from a machine gun, and never registered as a machine gun. A
jury rejected the BATFE’s contention that the gun was illegally converted and able to be “readily
restored” to fire full-auto. The other charge was related to a semi-auto H&K pistol. Albert owned two
copies of the pistol, one of which was a regular semi-auto, while the other was a legally registered
machine gun and short-barreled rifle. He also owned two removable stocks for the full-auto, SBR.
Since the semi-auto version of the pistol was capable of accepting the SBR shoulder stocks, the BATFE
claimed this constituted “constructive possession” of an unregistered short-barreled rifle.

On this charge, the jury initially found Albert guilty, even though there was no indication that he
had ever attached the stock to the pistol. Albert’s attorneys began to file an appeal, but before they
could do so, the judge set aside the jury verdict and harshly criticized the BATFE for misleading the
court and the jury. The case was eventually retried and Albert was exonerated, but this took several
years of legal wrangling and additional attorney fees.

Meanwhile, the BATFE refused to renew any of Albert’s Federal Firearms Licenses, leaving
him in the precarious position of owning a number of guns that were prohibited from possession in
Washington State without the appropriate FFL’s, forcing him to store his collection with a dealer in
another state. Albert appealed the loss of his licenses, but the courts deferred to the licensing agency –
BATFE – and his pleas were denied.

All told, Albert spent some 60 days in jail, paid several hundred thousand dollars in attorney
fees, and lost several hundred thousand more in the process of moving and storing his collection. This
has gone on for two decades now, with the final appeal on his license just a couple of years ago, and the
final exoneration in the criminal case, a few years before that. He is still unable to resume his firearms
business, and is being forced to liquidate much of his collection in order to pay for the storage fees.

The big questions are: With all that has happened, do you think there is any legal recourse for
Albert to get some compensation for the abuse he’s suffered at the hands of federal actors? And if so,
would you be interested in pursuing this case, or can you recommend attorneys who would, understand,
be qualified, and be interested in taking up the case on Albert’s behalf?

Albert’s primary Washington attorney is [REDACTED], whom I believe you know. Eric can
provide you with more specific details, or you are welcome to contact me if you have any general
questions. While Albert’s English is very good, he can sometimes be difficult to understand and hard to
 Page 3
follow when discussing these matters. I became acquainted with Albert many years ago, after hearing
about his troubles with the BATFE, and looking into the case for a magazine article. I think I’ve laid it
out accurately here, but I’m not an attorney, and this is just what I’ve pieced together from speaking
with Albert, [REDACTED], and Albert’s Washington DC attorney, [REDACTED].

Albert has been down a long and winding legal road. He’s still unable to resume his firearm
business, and is unable to bring his gun collection home. He’d like to see some justice in this case, but
even a solid determination that he’s out of legal options, would provide some closure and help him
move forward.

Any guidance or advice from you would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your consideration of this matter.

Best regards,

Jeff Knox, Director

The Firearms Coalition
Columnist: Firearms News magazine and (Ammoland.com)