NEW YORK – A New York City antiques dealer has been sentenced to six months in prison after admitting he illegally bought some rhinoceros horns.
David Hausman also was fined $28,000 in federal court on Thursday for breaking laws intended to protect endangered black rhinos.
The 67-year-old Manhattan resident said in pleading guilty last summer that he knew the horns needed to be under 100 years old to be a legal sale. He admitted he double-crossed the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service by first offering to help fight illegal sales of rhinoceros horns, then buying some himself. Hausman was arrested in a nationwide crackdown on the black market trade.
Authorities say persistent demand for rhino horn carvings, considered good luck charms or health enhancers in some cultures, has devastated the world's rhino population.
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