Stag Arms and its founder were sentenced in Hartford federal court to fines and probation in the wake of an unregistered machine gun found at the gunmaker’s New Britain factory.
The company must pay a $500,000 fine and its former president, Mark Malkowski of Farmington, was sentenced to two years of probation and a $100,000 fine.
“This is the first time nationwide that a major firearms manufacturer has been convicted of a felony and had its license revoked, effectively forcing the company to be sold to new owners,” said Deirdre M. Daly, U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut.
She said Stag displayed a “systemic and egregious disregard” of federal firearms regulations. The company was unable to account for hundreds of semi-automatic rifles and possessed over 60 unregistered machine guns.
Malkowski said in a statement that he believed public safety was never compromised by the violations. He said he was pleased the court proceeding puts this issue behind him and Stag Arms because it allows them to focus on the growth of the new company. As previously reported, Stag Arms is now under new ownership as part of the White Wolf Capital LLC group. Malkowski is currently a consultant in the firearms industry.
In Dec. 2015, Stag Arms pleaded guilty to a felony charge of possession of a machine gun not registered to the company, and Malkowski pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of failure to maintain proper firearm records.
