An auction house official from Beverly Hills, Calif., pleaded guilty in a New York City court for his part in a scheme to traffic items made of rhinoceros horn, elephant ivory and coral worth at least $1 million, federal prosecutors said on Wednesday.
The official, Joseph Chait, faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for charges related to conspiring to smuggle wildlife products, according to a statement from the United States attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York. He is expected to be sentenced in June.
Prosecutors said Mr. Chait, 38, falsely claimed on customs forms that items of rhinoceros horn or elephant ivory were made of bone, wood or plastic.
Among the allegations, prosecutors said that in 2011, in New York City, he and his partners agreed to sell a carving of a figure made of rhinoceros horn even though they knew it was not an antique. (Trade of such items is restricted unless they can be proved to be over 100 years old.)
When the piece sold for $230,000 at auction, he offered to make a fake invoice saying it was plastic and worth just $108.75.
“Mr. Chait took full responsibility for his conduct, and is very sorry for his actions,” his lawyer, Judith H. Germano, said.