An Irishman is facing criminal charges in New York accusing him of illegally selling horns from endangered black rhinos.

A Brooklyn judge ordered Michael Slattery held without bail Wednesday following his arrest over the weekend on charges he forged an official endangered species bill of sale for rhinoceros horns.

A criminal complaint filed in federal court in Brooklyn alleges that the 25-year-old Slattery traveled from Europe to Texas to buy two horns for $18,000. It says he then went to New York and used the forged paperwork to sell a total of four horns to a buyer for $50,000.

Prosecutors say Slattery is a member of Ireland's Gypsy minority, known there as "travellers." The name of his lawyer wasn't immediately available.