NY antiques dealer gets 6 months in prison, $28K fine for illegal buy of rhino horns
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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.
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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.