tamir sapir

tamir sapir
MIAMI - A New York billionaire's company has pleaded guilty to illegally importing wildlife parts, after inspectors found a big-game hunter's haul of elephant tusks, a mounted tiger head and bar stools covered with reticulated python hides on the company's 150-foot yacht at Port Everglades.

The yacht M/Y Mystere C.I., arriving from Italy on a transport ship in late 2007, was outfitted with a decorating scheme of dead animals: rugs made of zebra, jaguar, lion, leopard and tiger. Cigarette cases covered with reticulated python skin. An entire stuffed lion.

Because these wildlife parts were being imported into the United States -- even if they weren't to be sold -- the company required permits, and it didn't have any, federal prosecutors said. The law is intended to discourage poaching of endangered species.

The yacht is owned by Ruzial Ltd., a Cayman Islands company that federal prosecutors said existed only to hold title to the yacht.Signing the guilty plea was the company's sole director, Tamir Sapir, a Soviet-born billionaire who owns several Manhattan office buildings. Ruzial pleaded guilty to attempting to import 29 wildlife items, including specimens of protected species. U.S. District Judge William Dimitrouleas ordered Ruzial to pay criminal and civil fines of $150,000.

"The illegal trade in endangered wildlife robs directly from our future and the futures of our children and grandchildren," stated Anthony V. Mangione, special agent in charge, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office of Investigations. "It robs them of the opportunity to see these creatures in their natural environment. People who engage in this type of activity are criminals."

The yacht arrived at Port Everglades on Dec. 18, 2007, to begin a Caribbean cruise. But a Customs inspector entered, saw all the wildlife parts and called in inspectors from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, who found items from several protected species.

U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta said prosecutors take environmental crimes seriously.

"It's a very important case and we prosecuted it vigorously," he said.

Asked why no individuals were charged, he said the yacht was owned by a corporation, so that's the entity that could be charged. He also said individuals involved might be outside the jurisdiction of the United States but declined to be more specific.

He estimated the value of the contraband at $100,000. The tusks, skins and other items will be turned over to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for use in educational programs. The yacht was not seized, Acosta said.

Sapir could not be reached to comment, despite a message left at his corporate headquarters in New York. His attorney, Morris Weinberg Jr., also could not be reached, despite a message left at his office.

Sapir, born in Tbilisi, Georgia, emigrated to Israel in 1973 and then to the United States. He parlayed a New York taxi medallion and an electronics store into a real estate fortune, Russian oil investments and the ownership of several prominent midtown and downtown buildings. He was listed at 522nd on the Forbes list of the world's richest people, with an estimated worth of $1.4 billion.