Christopher Hayes, the President and owner of a Florida
auction house was sentenced today in federal court in West Palm Beach, Florida,
to 36 months in prison followed by two years of supervised release for his role
in the illegal wildlife smuggling conspiracy in which he bought, sold and
smuggled rhinoceros horns and objects made from rhino horn, elephant ivory and
coral that were smuggled from the United States to China. Hayes’ corporation, Elite Estate Buyers Inc.,
located in Boynton Beach, Florida, was ordered to pay a $1.5 million criminal
fine to the Lacey Act reward fund. The
court also banned the corporation from trading wildlife during a five year term
of probation.
The sentences were announced today by Assistant Attorney
General John C. Cruden for the Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural
Resources Division, U.S. Attorney Wifredo Ferrer for the Southern District of
Florida and Director Dan Ashe for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS).
“Those involved in the auction business have a special
responsibility to make sure that their business does not further the illegal
trade in wildlife,” said Assistant Attorney General Cruden. “Each illegally-traded horn or tusk
represents not an antique object but a dead animal. Wildlife trafficking entails poaching,
bribery, smuggling and organized crime.”
“Illegal wildlife trade threatens the survival of many
endangered species,” said U.S. Attorney Ferrer.
“The Department of Justice has made it a priority to protect our natural
resources. Our enforcement efforts are
in place to stop illegal trade practices that endanger the conservation of
nature.”
“This case highlights the part seemingly legitimate auction
houses and other businesses can play in the illegal trafficking of wildlife and
wildlife products – as well as the direct connection U.S. businesses and
citizens have to this international crisis,” said Director Ashe. “This conviction of Elite Estate Buyers – the
first of such a company and its president – demonstrates our resolve in going
after all those involved in the illegal wildlife trade and should serve as a
warning to similar operations, both here in the United States and abroad, that
they are on our radar screen and will be brought to justice for their role in
the destruction of these animals.”
According to a factual statement filed in court at the time
of their guilty plea, Hayes and Elite admitted to being part of a felony
conspiracy in which the company helped smugglers traffic in endangered and
protected species in interstate and foreign commerce and falsified records and
shipping documents related to the wildlife purchases in order to avoid the
scrutiny of the FWS and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Elite aided foreign buyers by directing them
to third-party shipping stores that were willing to send the wildlife out of
the country with false paperwork.
Charges were brought after Hayes purchased endangered black rhinoceros
horns from an undercover special agent with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife
Service.
According to records filed in court, Hayes and his company
sold six endangered black rhino horns.
Two of the horns were sold for $80,500 to Ning Qiu, a Texas resident
involved in smuggling the horns to China.
Qiu has pleaded guilty to being part of a broader conspiracy to smuggle
rhinoceros horns and items made from rhinoceros horns to Zhifei Li, the owner
or an antique business in China and the ringleader of a criminal enterprise
that smuggled 30 rhinoceros horns and numerous objects made from rhinoceros
horn and elephant ivory worth more than $4.5 million from the United States to
China. Qiu was sentenced to serve 25
months in prison on May 14, 2015, in Frisco, Texas, and Li was sentenced in
June 2014 to a prison term of 70 months in New Jersey.
Elite and Hayes also admitted to selling items made from
rhinoceros horn, elephant ivory and coral to the President of an antiques
business in Canada, who they then directed to a local shipper that agreed to
mail the items in Canada without required permits. That individual, Xiao Ju Guan, was sentenced
to 30 months in prison on March 25, 2015 in New York.
The prosecution of Elite and Hayes is part of Operation
Crash, a continuing effort by the Special Investigations Unit for the FWS’
Office of Law Enforcement in coordination with the Department of Justice to
detect, deter and prosecute those engaged in the illegal killing of rhinoceros
and the unlawful trafficking of rhinoceros horns and elephant ivory.
The investigation is continuing and is being handled by the
FWS Office of Law Enforcement, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern
District of Florida and the U.S. Department of Justice’s Environmental Crimes
Section. The prosecution of Hayes and
Elite was conducted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Watts-Fitzgerald for the
Southern District of Florida and Trial Attorney Gary N. Donner of the
Environmental Crimes Section.
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