A New York City antiques dealer has been sentenced to six months in prison after admitting he bought rhinoceros horns illegally.
David Hausman was sentenced Thursday in federal court in Manhattan. The 67-year-old Manhattan resident also was fined $28,000.
Last July, Hausman admitted that he double crossed the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service by posing as an antiques expert who wanted to help investigate rhinoceros horn trafficking.
He was arrested in a nationwide crackdown on those involved in the black market trade of endangered rhinoceros horns. He was charged after an undercover federal agent arranged to sell him a rhinoceros head with two horns.
Hausman said in pleading guilty last summer that he knew the horns needed to be over 100 years old to be a legal sale.
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.
