Beverly Hills Auctioneer Jacob Chait Charged in Rhino Horn Smuggling

Jacob Chait, 34, the head of acquisitions and auctioneer at a Beverly Hills gallery and auction house, was arraigned yesterday in U.S. Magistrate’s Court in Manhattan on a federal indictment charging him with conspiracy to smuggle rhinoceros horns and violate the Lacey Act. The one-count indictment, returned February 15, 2017, caps a years-long probe into a black-market network trafficking in endangered wildlife parts—items now more valuable per pound than gold.

According to the indictment, from 2009 to 2012, Chait and his co-conspirators bought rhinoceros horns and taxidermy mounts across the U.S., then attempted to sell them in private deals to foreign buyers. At least eight transactions—or attempted transactions—included 15 rhino horns with an estimated street value of $2.4 million. Among the most brazen allegations: Chait personally smuggled two endangered black rhino horns to China, concealing them in his luggage during international travel.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara slammed the scheme as greed-driven annihilation. “As alleged, Jacob Chait trafficked in and smuggled rhinoceros horns, further threatening an already endangered species. Rhinoceros have no known predators other than humans, and yet, driven by the illegal trade in their horns, literally worth more than their weight in gold in the black market, rhinoceros are on their way to extinction.”

The trade in rhino horn has been banned under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) since 1976. Despite global enforcement, demand in parts of Asia has fueled a surge in poaching. Jim Kurth, Acting Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, warned: “In Africa, a rhino is currently poached every eight hours—a rate that threatens to make the rhino extinct in the wild in less than 15 years.”

Acting Assistant Attorney General Jeffery Wood emphasized the seriousness of the charges: “The defendant and his co-conspirators are alleged to have engaged in a scheme to illegally traffic in the horns of highly protected rhinoceros. Illegal wildlife trafficking is a serious crime under federal law and should be vigorously prosecuted.”

Chait faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison. The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Jesse M. Furman, and Chait is scheduled to appear February 27, 2017. The case follows the June 22, 2016 sentencing of Joey Chait, Senior Auction Administrator at the same Beverly Hills firm, who received one year and one day in prison for conspiring to smuggle wildlife products—including rhino horn, elephant ivory, and coral—with a market value exceeding $1 million.