Former NBA Player Involved in Illegal Cuban Cigar Network in France

EXCLUSIVE INVESTIGATION — A French company bearing an NBA star’s initials has been running an illegal Cuban cigar distribution network, complete with fake credentials, a 22-page catalogue, and a shell structure designed to stay under the radar. 

 

KS Export. K for Kevin, S for Séraphin. Behind these two initials lies a company registered in the Paris area, officially specializing in the “export of goods and merchandise.” Behind this façade, our investigation has uncovered a structured network for the illegal distribution of Cuban cigars, operating on French territory in breach of tobacco sales regulations — and in direct defiance of the exclusive distribution rights held by Coprova, the sole authorized importer of Habanos cigars in France.

Kevin Séraphin, born December 7, 1989, in Cayenne, French Guiana, is no stranger to the spotlight. Drafted in 2010 by the Washington Wizards, he went on to play for the New York Knicks and the Indiana Pacers before retiring from the NBA in October 2020. He is now General Manager of Poissy Basket, a professional basketball club near Paris. His home in the Paris suburbs has served as the registered office of KS Export since July 5, 2023.

The company, registered under French business number SIREN 952 816 700, displays all the hallmarks of a shell structure: share capital of just €10 (the legal minimum), zero declared employees, and no annual accounts filed with the commercial court registry — a legal obligation under French corporate law. Its stated business purpose, deliberately vague, makes no mention whatsoever of tobacco.

Yet Kevin Séraphin appears to be little more than the company’s legal figurehead. The man who actually runs the operation goes by Lionel C., born in 1986 in Annecy, southeastern France. A 50% shareholder in KS Export, he is the real architect of the scheme.

 

Wanted: “Independent Field Sales Representatives”

KS Export is not a solo venture. Alongside Lionel C. works his sister, Muriel B., who describes herself on LinkedIn as an “office manager.” She is the one who posted, roughly two years ago, a recruitment advertisement for KS Export sales staff, listing ks.export1989@gmail.com as the contact address — “1989” being Kevin Séraphin’s year of birth.

The job posting is revealing: KS Export was looking for “independent field sales representatives,” earning between €2,000 and €8,000 per month based on performance, required to hold a driving license, and tasked with “managing and developing a client portfolio” while “organizing and scheduling tours within their sales territory.” A profile perfectly suited to directly canvassing tobacco retailers.

Job offer published two years ago on LinkedIn by Muriel B., sister of Lionel C.

In practice, KS Export sends representatives to approach tobacconists directly. L’Amateur de Cigare was able to obtain two business cards left with French retailers. The first, bearing the gold initials “L.C.” on a black background, lists two email addresses — ks.export1989@gmail.com and lcg1323@gmail.com — along with a phone number. The first name “Lionel” is handwritten on the back, leaving no doubt as to its owner’s identity. The second card belongs to William A., presented as a network sales representative, reachable via WhatsApp.

 

False Claims of Authorization

It is in the display cases of certain tobacconists that the affair takes on its full significance. Our editorial team was able to observe, in the very establishment that KS Export presents to its clients as a reference partner — Le Diplomate, located in Porte-de-Savoie, about twelve kilometers from Chambéry in the French Alps — the presence of suspicious cigar boxes.

Among them: clearly identifiable Punch Churchills. This format has not been manufactured by Habanos S.A. since 2010 and has long since ceased to be distributed by Coprova, the sole operator legally authorized to sell Habanos cigars in France. Unless these cigars had been stored for over a decade, a retailer displaying them in 2026 cannot have obtained them through official channels.

L’Amateur also obtained WhatsApp messages sent to a tobacconist in Brittany, western France, by a sales representative claiming to work for KS Export. The representative, Amandine M., explains that KS Export is “currently awaiting an agreement with Coprova in order to supply Cuban tobacco under compliant and secure conditions.” A formulation that implicitly acknowledges the company is currently operating without authorization — and one that could wait indefinitely, since Coprova holds a total monopoly on the sale of Cuban cigars in France.

In an email sent on Wednesday, April 22nd to French tobacconists, Coprova confirmed that it “has no direct or indirect relationship with the company KS Export, and has given it no authorization to use its name or to claim any connection” with it.

WhatsApp messages sent by Amandine M. to a Breton civet in early 2026

 

A 22-Page Catalogue

The WhatsApp messages from Amandine M. are accompanied by a 22-page product catalogue bearing KS Export’s logo and address. The range on offer runs from a box of 25 Montecristo No. 2 at €855.98 to a box of 25 Cohiba Esplendidos Vintage 1990 at €4,770. It even lists a “Coprova Behike humidor No. 675/1500” priced at €29,500, described as containing 60 Behike cigars. The page dedicated to this product reproduces a letter on official Coprova letterhead, sent to French tobacconists at the time of its commercial launch in late 2024 and signed “The Coprova team.” In reality, this humidor is sold empty — without any cigars — for €1,300 by Cigarte, a subsidiary of Habanos S.A. specializing in accessories.

Excerpt from the KS Export catalog sent by Amandine M. to a French tobacconist

In her messages, the sales representative also offers the tobacconist an “alternative solution via Le Diplomate de Chambéry,” presented as holding “all the necessary licenses” to sell Cuban products — conveniently omitting that the resale of tobacco products between retailers is not permitted under French law, especially when those products were not legally sourced in the first place. Contacted by our editorial team, the owner of Le Diplomate stated she had no knowledge of KS Export and sourced her Cuban cigars exclusively from Coprova.

The sales terms outlined by KS Export’s representative are equally telling: “30% upon ordering, balance upon delivery.” And, perhaps most strikingly: “a 12% margin calculated on the customs duty rate.” In France, the retailer’s margin on tobacco sales is set by the government at 9% for cigars — making KS Export’s offer financially attractive to tobacconists, and all the more insidious.

 

Customs Authorities Unaware

A senior official at the Regional Customs Directorate in Annecy — the authority responsible for tobacco distribution oversight in the Haute-Savoie and Ain departments, the area where Lionel C. is based — told L’Amateur he had no knowledge of this trafficking, while noting that he was not necessarily informed of all ongoing investigations.

Also contacted by our editorial team, Lionel C. claims that KS Export “does not operate in France,” that William A. “works exclusively in Switzerland” — despite his business card having been distributed to French tobacconists — and asked for additional time to verify whether Amandine M. works for one of his companies.

As for Kevin Séraphin, our attempts to reach him via his LinkedIn account and through Poissy Basket went unanswered.

Coprova, for its part, says it is “currently assessing the appropriate next steps.”

 

Laurent Mimouni