Man Admits to Smuggling Asian Fossils of Dinosaurs
The description accompanying Lot 49315 at Heritage Auctions in May was striking: a “superb Tyrannosaurus skeleton,” a remnant of a vanished animal that “ruled the food chain of the ancient flood plains that are today’s Gobi Desert.”
The catalog stirred intense interest, and the dinosaur skeleton sold for more than $1 million.
But on Thursday, the man who shipped the skeleton from the Gobi and presented it to the auction house said that he had brought it and others into the United States fraudulently.
“I forwarded a few shipments of fossils of Mongolian origin from Great Britain to the U.S. that were mislabeled,” the man, Eric Prokopi, told a magistrate judge in Federal District Court in Manhattan. “I imported and transported Mongolian fossils that were exported from Mongolia without the proper permits.”
Mr. Prokopi pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate federal law by smuggling the fossil of a flying dinosaur from China into the United States, making false statements while importing Mongolian dinosaur fossils and transporting dinosaur fossils that had been unlawfully taken from Mongolia.
The magistrate judge, Ronald L. Ellis, said Mr. Prokopi faced up to 17 years in prison and directed that he return to court in April to be sentenced.
As part of a plea agreement with prosecutors, Mr. Prokopi agreed to forfeit the Tyrannosaur skeleton that had been put up for auction, two additional Tyrannosaur skeletons and a hadrosaur skeleton. He also agreed to surrender two Oviraptor skeletons that a prosecutor, Martin S. Bell, said had been seized from Mr. Prokopi’s properties in Florida.
“It’s one of the longer dinosaur shopping lists,” Mr. Bell told the judge.
The fossil of the Chinese flying dinosaur was seized by federal authorities in 2010 during separate proceedings.
The odd story of the Tyrannosaur on the auction block surfaced several months ago when a paleontologist, Mark A. Norell of the American Museum of Natural History, noticed the listing in the Heritage catalog.
He wrote an open letter about the 24-foot-long skeleton, saying, “These specimens were undoubtedly looted from Mongolia.”
Within days, the president of Mongolia had obtained a court order to block the auction of the skeleton, which had been sold but not transferred.
At about the same time, Preet Bharara, the United States attorney in Manhattan, filed a civil complaint seeking the forfeiture of the skeleton so that it could be returned to Mongolia, where dinosaur skeletons are deemed government property.
That request cited several experts who said the particularized coloring of the bones meant that they had come from a specific area in Mongolia known as the Nemegt Basin.
Under Mongolian law, the removal of fossils is a crime; violators may be jailed and fined.
Mr. Prokopi contested the forfeiture request from federal officials but was eventually charged with the criminal offenses.
The proceeding on Thursday resolved both the criminal charges and the civil complaint against him.
Prosecutors described Mr. Prokopi in court papers as a “commercial paleontologist” and said he was the owner of a Web site, everything-earth.com. It features a photograph of Mr. Prokopi and says that the business was started by “a really shy little boy who spent his days scuba diving and finding fossils all over Florida.”
The Web site goes on to say that its “commercial paleontology division” obtains fossils from around the world, sometimes buying or trading them, and works with museums and major auction houses. “That’s right, we sell dinosaurs!” the site says. “To whom, you might ask, and we say to anyone that wants one!”
A version of this article appeared in print on December 28, 2012, on page A23 of the New York edition with the headline: Man Admits To Smuggling Asian Fossils Of Dinosaurs.
The catalog stirred intense interest, and the dinosaur skeleton sold for more than $1 million.
But on Thursday, the man who shipped the skeleton from the Gobi and presented it to the auction house said that he had brought it and others into the United States fraudulently.
“I forwarded a few shipments of fossils of Mongolian origin from Great Britain to the U.S. that were mislabeled,” the man, Eric Prokopi, told a magistrate judge in Federal District Court in Manhattan. “I imported and transported Mongolian fossils that were exported from Mongolia without the proper permits.”
Mr. Prokopi pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate federal law by smuggling the fossil of a flying dinosaur from China into the United States, making false statements while importing Mongolian dinosaur fossils and transporting dinosaur fossils that had been unlawfully taken from Mongolia.
The magistrate judge, Ronald L. Ellis, said Mr. Prokopi faced up to 17 years in prison and directed that he return to court in April to be sentenced.
As part of a plea agreement with prosecutors, Mr. Prokopi agreed to forfeit the Tyrannosaur skeleton that had been put up for auction, two additional Tyrannosaur skeletons and a hadrosaur skeleton. He also agreed to surrender two Oviraptor skeletons that a prosecutor, Martin S. Bell, said had been seized from Mr. Prokopi’s properties in Florida.
“It’s one of the longer dinosaur shopping lists,” Mr. Bell told the judge.
The fossil of the Chinese flying dinosaur was seized by federal authorities in 2010 during separate proceedings.
The odd story of the Tyrannosaur on the auction block surfaced several months ago when a paleontologist, Mark A. Norell of the American Museum of Natural History, noticed the listing in the Heritage catalog.
He wrote an open letter about the 24-foot-long skeleton, saying, “These specimens were undoubtedly looted from Mongolia.”
Within days, the president of Mongolia had obtained a court order to block the auction of the skeleton, which had been sold but not transferred.
At about the same time, Preet Bharara, the United States attorney in Manhattan, filed a civil complaint seeking the forfeiture of the skeleton so that it could be returned to Mongolia, where dinosaur skeletons are deemed government property.
That request cited several experts who said the particularized coloring of the bones meant that they had come from a specific area in Mongolia known as the Nemegt Basin.
Under Mongolian law, the removal of fossils is a crime; violators may be jailed and fined.
Mr. Prokopi contested the forfeiture request from federal officials but was eventually charged with the criminal offenses.
The proceeding on Thursday resolved both the criminal charges and the civil complaint against him.
Prosecutors described Mr. Prokopi in court papers as a “commercial paleontologist” and said he was the owner of a Web site, everything-earth.com. It features a photograph of Mr. Prokopi and says that the business was started by “a really shy little boy who spent his days scuba diving and finding fossils all over Florida.”
The Web site goes on to say that its “commercial paleontology division” obtains fossils from around the world, sometimes buying or trading them, and works with museums and major auction houses. “That’s right, we sell dinosaurs!” the site says. “To whom, you might ask, and we say to anyone that wants one!”
A version of this article appeared in print on December 28, 2012, on page A23 of the New York edition with the headline: Man Admits To Smuggling Asian Fossils Of Dinosaurs.
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