WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Viroqua man is facing charges for illegally selling firearms and related parts without a license to buyers in Saudi Arabia, and then lying to law enforcement about it.
60-year-old Mark John Buschman is alleged to have “obtained firearms and firearms parts in the U.S. and advertised the items for sale on eBay and other online marketplace-style websites. When buyers in Saudi Arabia expressed interest in the items for sale, he agreed to sell and ship the items out of the country to them. Throughout the course of the conspiracy, Saudi Arabian-based buyers paid the defendant approximately $398,000”, according to court documents.
The illegal export conspiracy for more than five years, lasting from about February 2019 to about December 2024.
Court documents also show Buschman removed serial numbers from some of the firearms and firearms parts were removed before he shipped the items, hiding them in “common household appliances and tools such as toasters, coffee makers, space heaters, fans, and landscaping edge trimmers”. Then using a fake return address, he shipped the items through the U.S. Postal Service to freight forwarders out of Ohio, New Jersey, and Oregon without declaring that the shipments contained firearms and firearms parts.
Buschman is charged by indictment with conspiracy to smuggle goods from the United States; attempted smuggling of goods from the United States; transporting and shipping firearms with removed, obliterated, or altered serial numbers; mailing firearms as nonmailable prohibited items; unlawful dealing in firearms without a license; and making false statements to law enforcement.
If convicted on all counts, Buschman faces a maximum penalty of 42 years in prison and fines of up to $1.5 million dollars.
