Victor Gordon Pleads Guilty

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Readers may remember the sad story of the 'tribal art' dealer in Philadelphia who was selling poached ivory in his shop. Today he pleaded guilty (News Release - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service   Philadelphia Man Pleads Guilty To Smuggling African Elephant Ivory 15919335)

The owner of a Philadelphia African art store, Victor Gordon, pleaded guilty today to smuggling African elephant ivory into the United States [...] Gordon was arrested in July 2011, following the seizure from his Philadelphia store of approximately one ton of elephant ivory - one of the largest U.S. seizures of elephant ivory on record. As part of his plea agreement, Gordon has agreed to forfeit all of the seized ivory and $150,000. The value of the ivory Gordon has agreed to forfeit is estimated to be in excess of $400,000.[...] The government's ongoing investigation into the importation of elephant ivory from Africa into the United States has already resulted in the convictions of nine defendants for federal smuggling and/or Lacey Act violations. The defendant faces a maximum sentence of 20 years' imprisonment on the charge to which he has pleaded guilty.

How many elephants have been slaughtered, how man orphaned, to satisfy this callous man's greed? I hope he gets the twenty years.

I covered this story at the time of the arrest, as it seems very much related to the so-called "ancient art trade". Tuesday, 26 July 2011: Another US 'Antique' Smuggling Case: Hardly "A museum by any other name"

UPDATE 24.09.12
Rick St Hilaire has further details: 'Ivory Smuggler Pleads Guilty in US v. Gordon'.

UPDATE UPDATE 5th June 2014 The bloke is sentenced, he goes to jail, but the elephants are still dead.  U.S. v. Victor Gordon: Prison Term Imposed in Ivory Smuggling Case "30 months in prison, two years supervised release, a fine of $7500 and forfeiture of $150,000 plus one ton of elephant ivory".