Steve
Not only is the person you are talking about one of the richest men in Houston but he is one of the richest men in the World. He is in the top 50 of Forbes list of Billionaires.
Two others, a Father and Son, are also from Houston.
Tom Riley was the Head of the SE Region for USF&W when he went on the hunt. (this is where the trial took place.) He was on the Bush very short list for head of the Dept of the Interior when Bush was elected but Politics and Indiana Coal money swung the position to Gail Norton.
The hunt was booked through Kern for Moose in Kamchatka. Rumours of bigger than Alaska Moose have been circulated for years from there.
When they got there they found out there were no roads, no vehicles and no way to access the hunting area. The outfitter called in a Helicopter, a very common hunting tool in all of Russia. Shooting from a Helicopter in Russia is illegal but it is done all the time by shooters wanting a big trophy. It is much more prevalent in Sheep Hunting but Moose Hunting and Bear Hunting also get there fair share of shooters from choppers.
Short story is, they shot a couple of Moose by getting off the chopper and shooting. This is legal. They shot 3 more from the Chopper. This was videoed by the Son.
The video was shown at the SCI Convention in Kern's Booth for a short time. Quite a few people saw it. After a couple of hours one of the Hunters came along, saw the video and went ballistic in front of about 40 other attendees. A lot of screaming and such and the video was removed. The video not only showed them shooting but showed one Moose with a large caliber bullet hole in the palm of one antler.
The tape was subsequently seized by USF&W, as were the trophies that Kern arranged to import. Riley was forced to resign his position but two of the other participants arranged for him to become SCI Executive Director. When the story came out he was forced out by the BOD.
The Billionaire was charged as he was the shooter that put the hole in the horn. He got the case dismissed by pleading ignorance of the law in regards to shooting from the chopper. This despite the fact he has around 50 trips to Russia to hunt. Money talks.
Kern, as the Booking Agent, and probably the biggest Agent in booking hunts in Russia, was charged with importing the Trophies. The trial was held in the SE District where Riley used to be the Boss. The tape and the Horns disappeared from F&W custody before the trial began.
Anyone here doubt that a Russian Official, deeply involved with getting overseas hunters to Russia as part of his job, would not spin the hunt in favour of the largest Booking Agent in Russia? Maybe an 'extra large tip' was involved.
I understand that there are abut 40 other cases involving similar methods waiting in the wings. The USF&W Service
sees this as a huge problem and they also see it as a chance to bring some of these rich shooters down a peg.
Whether or not this is the right thing to spend money on is up for debate.
The Lacey Act doesn't only cover importation of Animal parts but anything that was acquired illegally from a Foreign Country. We have similar requests that other Countries prosecute their citizens for doing similar things in the US.
One Aussie who shot some Elk in Yellowstone, with a Wyoming Outfitter, was prosecuted in Australia under their version of this Law. It is legal to hunt in Aussie National Parks so there was a lot of people there that couldn't understand why it was such a big deal.
