AUCTION HOUSE, PRESIDENT PLEAD GUILTY FOR ROLES IN WILDLIFE SMUGGLING CONSPIRACY

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT 

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Auction House and Company’s President Plead Guilty to Wildlife Smuggling Conspiracy

Elite Estate Buyers Inc., doing business as Elite Decorative Arts, an auction house located in Boynton Beach, Florida, and the company’s president and owner, Christopher Hayes, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Miami to an illegal wildlife trafficking and smuggling conspiracy in which  the auction house sold rhinoceros horns and objects made from rhino horn, elephant ivory and coral that were smuggled from the United States to China.

The guilty plea was announced today by Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, U.S. Attorney Wifredo Ferrer for the Southern District of Florida and Director Dan Ashe of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS).  The prosecution of Elite and Hayes is part of Operation Crash, a continuing effort by the Special Investigations Unit of the FWS’ Office of Law Enforcement in coordination with the Department of Justice to detect, deter and prosecute those engaged in the illegal killing of rhinoceros and the unlawful trafficking of rhinoceros horns.

According to records filed in court, Hayes and his company sold six endangered black rhino horns.  Two of the horns were sold for $80,500 to a Texas resident involved in smuggling the horns to China.  Two more rhino horns were purchased by an undercover FWS special agent.  Another undercover agent with the FWS consigned two horns for auction.

As part of today’s plea agreement, Hayes and Elite have admitted to being part of a far reaching felony conspiracy in which the company helped smugglers traffic in endangered and protected species in interstate and foreign commerce, and falsified records and shipping documents related to the wildlife purchases in order to avoid the scrutiny of the FWS and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.  Elite aided foreign buyers by directing them to third-party shipping stores that were willing to send the wildlife out of the country with false paperwork.  

“In pleading guilty this auction house is admitting that it played a key role in the supply chain of rhino horn and elephant ivory to wildlife smugglers and foreign markets,” said Assistant Attorney General Cruden.  “Auction houses and art galleries should be especially mindful of abiding by the laws designed to prevent the extinction of these species rather than devoting their expertise to help smugglers evade the law.  This prosecution is the result of a sophisticated and long-ranging investigation into every aspect of the illegal wildlife trade and we will hold all law violators fully accountable for their actions.”

“Not only did Hayes and his company illegally profit from obtaining rhinoceros horns and elephant ivory, but his greed and indifference contributed to the senseless slaughter of these animals,” said U.S. Attorney Ferrer.  “Trafficking in endangered and threatened species is illegal.  Together with our law enforcement partners, we will strictly enforce the laws that protect our environment and our wildlife.”

“As this guilty plea demonstrates, ivory and rhino horn trafficking is not just a problem for other countries to solve,” said Director Ashe.  “The ongoing slaughter of rhinos and elephants in Africa is driven by rising consumer demand and United States citizens like Christopher Hayes are intimately involved in illegal trade both here and abroad.  We will continue to work with international law enforcement agencies and the international community to apprehend and bring to justice those whose callous disregard threatens the survival of the world’s wildlife heritage.”

Elite and Hayes also admitted to selling items made from rhinoceros horn, elephant ivory and coral to an antiques dealer in Canada, who they then directed to a local shipper that agreed to mail the items in Canada without required permits.  The defendants also admitted to selling raw rhinoceros horns, which they believed were from a black rhinoceros, to a person in Texas.

Hayes, 55, of Wellington, Florida, will be sentenced by Judge Daniel T. K. Hurley on a date yet to be determined.  The maximum penalty is five years in prison and a maximum fine of $500,000 for Elite and $250,000 for Hayes, or up to twice the gross gain.  Elite has agreed to pay a $1.5 million fine and to no longer engage in the receipt, consignment or sale of endangered or protected wildlife, or items containing endangered or protected wildlife, including items containing rhinoceros horn, elephant ivory and red coral.    

The investigation is continuing and is being handled by the FWS Office of Law Enforcement, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida and the Environment and Natural Resources Division’s Environmental Crimes Section.  The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Watts-FitzGerald for the Southern District of Florida and Trial Attorney Gary N. Donner of the Environmental Crimes Section.

DOJ, JANITORIAL COMPANY REACH SETTLEMENT IN IMMIGRATION-RELATED DISCRIMINATION CLAIM

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT 

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Justice Department Settles Immigration-Related Discrimination Claim Against Janitorial Company

The Justice Department announced that it reached a settlement agreement with U.S. Service Industries (USSI), a janitorial company headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, and operating in Florida, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C.  The agreement resolves allegations that USSI violated the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) by discriminating against work-authorized individuals who are not U.S. citizens.  

The Justice Department’s investigation found that USSI required workers who are not U.S. citizens to produce documents issued by the Department of Homeland Security as a condition of employment, but it did not make similar demands of U.S. citizens.  The INA’s anti-discrimination provision prohibits employers from placing additional documentary burdens on workers during the employment eligibility verification process based on their citizenship status.

Under the settlement agreement, USSI will pay $132,000 in civil penalties to the United States; undergo training on the anti-discrimination provision of the INA; establish a $50,000 back pay fund to compensate any workers who may have lost wages; revise its employment eligibility verification policies; and be subject to monitoring of its employment eligibility verification practices for two years.

“Employers cannot create unlawful discriminatory obstacles for immigrants,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta for the Civil Rights Division.  “It is important that large employers review their employment eligibility verification practices at all of their offices to make sure they are in compliance with the law.”

The Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices (OSC) within the Justice Department is responsible for enforcing the anti-discrimination provision of the INA.  Among other things, the statute prohibits citizenship status and national origin discrimination in hiring, firing or recruitment or referral for a fee, unfair documentary practices, retaliation and intimidation.

For more information about protections against employment discrimination under immigration laws, call OSC’s worker hotline at 1-800-255-7688 (1-800-237-2515, TTY for hearing impaired), call OSC’s employer hotline at 1-800-255-8155 (1-800-237-2515, TTY for hearing impaired), sign up for a free webinar at www.justice.gov/crt/about/osc/webinars.php, email osccrt@usdoj.govEmail links icon or visit OSC’s website at www.justice.gov/crt/about/osc.  

Applicants or employees who believe they were subjected to different documentary requirements based on their citizenship status, immigration status or national origin, or discrimination based on their citizenship status, immigration status or national origin in hiring, firing, or recruitment or referral for a fee should contact OSC’s worker hotline for assistance.