Meridian Blades
Moderator - Knife Maker
150K Fines for Ivory Exporting
http://www.chicagotribune.com/busin...ally-exporting-ivory-20120110,0,4241792.story
By Emily Bryson York
Tribune reporter
3:00 p.m. CST, January 10, 2012
A Skokie company pleaded guilty Tuesday to illegally exporting African elephant ivory, and other products made from protected wildlife.
Atlas Fibre Company was fined $150,000, the U.S. Department of Justice said.
"Failing to obtain necessary export permits is not merely a technical violation of the law," Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, said in a statement. "It is a crime to intentionally export protected wildlife parts and products without a permit to ensure that we protect, not profiting from, threatened or endangered species."
The illegal ivory exported by the company was used to make billiard cue sticks, the Justice Department said. Atlas' billiard supply division also made products made from hides of elephants, monitor lizards, kangaroos, ostriches and sharks.
In addition to the $150,000 fine, Atlas was ordered to pay $12,273 in restitution to the Fish & Wildlife Services.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/busin...ally-exporting-ivory-20120110,0,4241792.story
By Emily Bryson York
Tribune reporter
3:00 p.m. CST, January 10, 2012
A Skokie company pleaded guilty Tuesday to illegally exporting African elephant ivory, and other products made from protected wildlife.
Atlas Fibre Company was fined $150,000, the U.S. Department of Justice said.
"Failing to obtain necessary export permits is not merely a technical violation of the law," Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, said in a statement. "It is a crime to intentionally export protected wildlife parts and products without a permit to ensure that we protect, not profiting from, threatened or endangered species."
The illegal ivory exported by the company was used to make billiard cue sticks, the Justice Department said. Atlas' billiard supply division also made products made from hides of elephants, monitor lizards, kangaroos, ostriches and sharks.
In addition to the $150,000 fine, Atlas was ordered to pay $12,273 in restitution to the Fish & Wildlife Services.
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