Florida fossils dealer admits dinosaur smuggling

A court in New York heard that Eric
Prokopi sold the skeleton at auction in
May for more than $1m (£600,000).
In June, US officials seized the bones
after Mongolia said they were stolen.
In a plea bargain, Prokopi gave up any
claim to the skeleton as well as to others
seized by authorities which included
remains from China.
He also admitted illegally importing a
Chinese flying dinosaur, two oviraptors
and a duckbilled creature known as a
Saurolophus.
The court heard that Prokopi, 38, was
arrested in October as a lorry arrived at
his home loaded with fossils.
He faces a maximum of 17 years
imprisonment when he is sentenced in
April.
Shopping list
US Attorney Preet Bharara said
authorities would now begin the process
of returning the fossils to their countries
of origin.
"Fossils and ancient skeletal remains are
part of the fabric of a country's natural
history and cultural heritage, and black
marketers like Prokopi who illegally
export and sell these wonders, steal a
slice of that history," he said.
Eric Prokopi admitted illegally importing
skeletons from Mongolia and China
Mongolia has been seeking the return of
the Tyrannosaurus skeleton - which it
says was stolen from the Gobi desert -
through the US courts.
In court on Thursday, Assistant US
Attorney Martin Bell read out a list of the
dinosaurs that he said Prokopi had
illegally imported.
"It's among the larger dinosaur shopping
lists you'll see today," he told Magistrate
Judge Ronald Ellis.
He said a second, almost complete,
Tyrannosaurus skeleton had been found
at Prokopi's home in Gainsville, Florida.
Mr Bell said one oviraptor skeleton was
found at Prokopi's home and the other at
another residential dwelling in Florida.
One of the Saurolophus skeletons was
sold at an auction in California for
$75,000 but later confiscated by
authorities.
Prokopi admitted illegally importing
skeletons from Mongolia and China.
Heritage Auctions in New York, which
sold the Tyrannosaurus skeleton in May,
said Prokopi had spent a year restoring
and remounting what had been a loose
collection of bones.
Prokopi was described as a commercial
palaeontologist who sold coral, fossils
and other items over the internet.