There are some S1 Elises in this country legally. They just can't be used on the street. I know of at least one person that has an S1 and uses it on the track for track days and is allowed to drive to and from the track using a temporary registration from his state - a very big hassle, but he is completely legal. Note however, that his S1 is not registered for street use - it has no license plates and is not street legal. There are no S1 Lotus Elises in the US that are both legally imported and legally registered.
There was, however, a "gentleman" in Florida that was importing Elises from Europe by questionable means, then sold to people as a "legally registered" Lotus Elise. Which was technically correct - the cars were legally registered in at least one state. That does not, however, make them "legal" to be in the US. They were specifically illegal under the federal DOT and EPA regulations. Some (most?) states don't care and don't necessarily check when registering the cars (these are also some of the states that you use to "clean" a title of a car that has been wrecked and salvaged) to see if the car was legally imported into the US. Once a car is registered in one state, you can usually register it in most others by transferring the title to the new state (like when you move). The guy in Florida got away with this "activity" for several years, until one of the cars was involved in a street racing incident. That's when the Feds started investigating and found out what had been happening. The guy ended up in Federal prison for "smuggling", and the cars were hunted down and confiscated. The cars, although "legal registered" were illegally imported.
These cars were not the Sun International Elises (note Sun's Elises are not technically "Lotus Elises"). Sun's cars were essentially imported as "parts" and then assembled and registered as "kit" cars. Rumors were that Sun International was being investigated after the guy in Florida was busted, but I never heard of the outcome of that investigation (or if Sun's activities were declared legal or illegal).
I just waited until I got my Federal Lotus Elise...:clap: