Feds file lawsuit to get tyrannosaur skeleton sent back to Mongolia
Federal attorneys today filed a civil lawsuit that seeks to wrest a tyrannosaur skeleton valued at more than $1 million away from its sellers and return it to the Mongolian government.
The skeleton was sold at a New York auction last month for $1.05 million to an unidentified buyer, even though a federal district judge in Texas issued a restraining order to hold up the sale. The auction house behind the sale, Texas-based Heritage Auctions, made the sale contingent on the outcome of Mongolia's court challenge — and the skeleton is being held in legal limbo.
Earlier this month, a panel of paleontologists declared that the skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus bataar, also known as a Tarbosaurus, indeed came from Mongolia and was probably smuggled out of the country sometime in the past 15 years or so. Today's complaint, filed by the U.S. attorney for Manhattan in federal district court, follows up on that determination and lays out the authorities' version of a tangled tyrannosaur tale.
"The skeletal remains of this dinosaur are of tremendous cultural and historical significance to the people of Mongolia, and provide a connection to the country's prehistoric past," Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement. "When the skeleton was allegedly looted, a piece of the country's natural history was stolen with it, and we look forward to returning it to its rightful place."
Mongolia has had laws on the books forbidding the export of dinosaur fossils since 1924. The complaint says the nearly complete skeleton was brought into the United States illegally after that time, and thus should be forfeited by the sellers and returned to Mongolia.
James Hayes, a special agent-in-charge for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations, said the complaint alleges that "criminal smugglers misrepresented this fossil to customs officials." When the skeleton was imported into the United States from Britain in 2010, the country of origin was listed as Britain — even though, according to the paleontologists, tyrannosaurs of this type have been found only in Mongolia. The experts cited the appearance of the bones, their light color and even the dirt stuck in the cracks in the fossils as characteristic of Tyrannosaurus bataar, as opposed to T. rex and other members of the tyrannosaur tribe.
Federal attorneys said the importers set the skeleton's value was set at $15,000, in contrast with the valuation of $950,000 to $1.5 million that was listed in this year's auction catalog. They also said the skeleton was incorrectly listed on customs forms as consisting of assorted fossil reptiles and skulls.
The complaint names Florida Fossils as the ultimate consignee for the imported goods, and notes that the company was owned at the time of importation by Eric Prokopi. The skeleton was shipped to Texas, and then to New York in preparation for the May 20 sale. Soon after word spread that a million-dollar tyrannosaur was coming up for auction, representatives of the Mongolian government became interested and sought unsuccessfully to stop the sale.
The dinosaur skeleton is currently in the custody of Cadogan Tate Fine Art in Sunnyside, N.Y. In the weeks since the controversial sale took place, the auction house has let paleontologists and representatives examine the fossil.
My efforts to contact Heritage Auctions and Prokopi today were unsuccessful. The Associated Press quoted Heritage Auction's co-chairman and co-founder, Jim Halperin, as saying he couldn't comment until he reviewed the text of the complaint. But when the experts announced their conclusion that the fossil came from Mongolia, Halperin said his company would "continue to assist the ongoing efforts to achieve a fair and amicable resolution."
The skeleton was sold at a New York auction last month for $1.05 million to an unidentified buyer, even though a federal district judge in Texas issued a restraining order to hold up the sale. The auction house behind the sale, Texas-based Heritage Auctions, made the sale contingent on the outcome of Mongolia's court challenge — and the skeleton is being held in legal limbo.
Earlier this month, a panel of paleontologists declared that the skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus bataar, also known as a Tarbosaurus, indeed came from Mongolia and was probably smuggled out of the country sometime in the past 15 years or so. Today's complaint, filed by the U.S. attorney for Manhattan in federal district court, follows up on that determination and lays out the authorities' version of a tangled tyrannosaur tale.
"The skeletal remains of this dinosaur are of tremendous cultural and historical significance to the people of Mongolia, and provide a connection to the country's prehistoric past," Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement. "When the skeleton was allegedly looted, a piece of the country's natural history was stolen with it, and we look forward to returning it to its rightful place."
Mongolia has had laws on the books forbidding the export of dinosaur fossils since 1924. The complaint says the nearly complete skeleton was brought into the United States illegally after that time, and thus should be forfeited by the sellers and returned to Mongolia.
James Hayes, a special agent-in-charge for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations, said the complaint alleges that "criminal smugglers misrepresented this fossil to customs officials." When the skeleton was imported into the United States from Britain in 2010, the country of origin was listed as Britain — even though, according to the paleontologists, tyrannosaurs of this type have been found only in Mongolia. The experts cited the appearance of the bones, their light color and even the dirt stuck in the cracks in the fossils as characteristic of Tyrannosaurus bataar, as opposed to T. rex and other members of the tyrannosaur tribe.
Federal attorneys said the importers set the skeleton's value was set at $15,000, in contrast with the valuation of $950,000 to $1.5 million that was listed in this year's auction catalog. They also said the skeleton was incorrectly listed on customs forms as consisting of assorted fossil reptiles and skulls.
The complaint names Florida Fossils as the ultimate consignee for the imported goods, and notes that the company was owned at the time of importation by Eric Prokopi. The skeleton was shipped to Texas, and then to New York in preparation for the May 20 sale. Soon after word spread that a million-dollar tyrannosaur was coming up for auction, representatives of the Mongolian government became interested and sought unsuccessfully to stop the sale.
The dinosaur skeleton is currently in the custody of Cadogan Tate Fine Art in Sunnyside, N.Y. In the weeks since the controversial sale took place, the auction house has let paleontologists and representatives examine the fossil.
My efforts to contact Heritage Auctions and Prokopi today were unsuccessful. The Associated Press quoted Heritage Auction's co-chairman and co-founder, Jim Halperin, as saying he couldn't comment until he reviewed the text of the complaint. But when the experts announced their conclusion that the fossil came from Mongolia, Halperin said his company would "continue to assist the ongoing efforts to achieve a fair and amicable resolution."
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