Government agents arrested a Gainesville man early Wednesday morning on accusations of illegally importing and selling dinosaur fossils stolen from Asia.
Agents from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations unit arrested Eric Prokopi, a 38-year-old self-described “commercial paleontologist,” at his home on the 5900 block of Southwest 13th Street, according to the homeland security unit’s news release.
Prokopi was charged with conspiracy to smuggle illegal goods, possession of stolen property and providing false information. He was also charged with smuggling items into the U.S., and interstate sale and receipt of stolen goods.
Before the arrest, prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York filed a civil lawsuit regarding Prokopi’s dinosaur fossil scheme. The case is currently pending.
The U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara, said in a statement the seizure of a 70-million-year-old, “nearly complete” Tyrannosaurus bataar skeleton from Prokopi “was merely the tip of the iceberg.”
“Our investigation uncovered a one-man black market in prehistoric fossils,” he said.
Prokopi and his wife own Everything Earth, a Gainesville-based business that buys and sells jewelry, artifacts and fossils.
From 2010 to 2012, Prokopi allegedly lied to United States Customs and Border Protection officials about the Mongolian fossils’ identity, origin and value, according to the New York State attorney’s complaint.
In March 2010, Prokopi imported the Tyrannosaurus bataar fossil to Gainesville, falsely reporting to customs officials that the skeleton was from Great Britain and worth about $15,000. It was actually from Mongolia.
Between April and May 2010, Prokopi directed another person to lie on a customs form to import the remains of a Microraptor, a small, flying dinosaur from China, according to the release.
Earlier this year, Prokopi listed the Tyrannosaurus bataar skeleton for auction through the Dallas-based auction website Heritage Auctions.
On May 20, an anonymous buyer bought the fossil in Manhattan for more than $1 million.
A day later, the U.S. government seized the skeleton at the request of Mongolian government officials, who said it was stolen from their country.
An investigation followed, and when Prokopi heard about the court proceedings, according to the release, he emailed Heritage Auctions.
“If (the Mongolian president) only wants to take the skeleton and try to put an end to the black market,” Prokopi wrote, “he will have a fight and will only drive the black market deeper underground.”
Prokopi also allegedly imported the fossils of a Saurolophus angustirostris, a dinosaur from the late Cretaceous period, and sold the skeleton to I. M. Chait, an auction house located in Beverly Hills, Calif., for $75,000 in May.
Additionally, Prokopi purchased and tried to import Gallimimus and Oviraptor mongoliensis fossils, which were two other dinosaurs native to Mongolia.
A U.S. Marshals spokesman said Prokopi appeared in court Wednesday afternoon and was released on bond later that day.
Contact Chris Alcantara at calcantara@alligator.org.
