http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2014/10/scheme_to_sell_illegal_rhino_h.html#incart_river

"MONTGOMERY, Alabama --- Federal prosecutors announced charges today against two South African brothers accused of selling illegal rhinoceros hunts and trafficking valuable rhino horns in a business that operated partly out of Alabama.

Janneman Groenewald lived in Autauga County from 2005 to 2010, when prosecutors say he and his brother got hunters to pay $3,500 to $15,000 to hunt rhinos illegally on their ranch in Mussina, South Africa.

The brothers went to hunting and gun shows across the United States to find customers for their business, Out of Africa Adventurous Safaris. None of the hunters involved in the incidents that led to the charges were from Alabama.

The illegal hunts resulted in deaths of 11 rhinos, which are protected under U.S. and international law.

The case is not the safari company's first brush with the law here in Alabama. One of the brothers pleaded guilty four years ago in a case involving an illegal leopard safari.

Dan Ashe, director of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, joined other federal officials in Montgomery today as the charges were announced by George Beck, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Alabama.

Janneman Groenewald, 44, and Dawie Groenewald, 46, were charged with conspiracy, Lacey Act violations, mail fraud, money laundering and structuring bank deposits to avoid reporting requirements.

The Lacey Act makes it a crime to sell animal hunts in violation of state, federal, tribal and foreign law.

The brothers are in South Africa and were not yet in custody, prosecutors said today. Plans are to try to extradite them to Alabama to face the charges.

The alleged crimes involve a scheme to get hunters to pay for a chance to kill a rhino with the understanding that they could not bring the trophy back to the United States.

Hunters could shoot a rhino and pose for a photo with the dead animal. The hunters have not been charged.

The defendants cut horns off the rhinos and sold the horns on the black market, prosecutors said.

In one incident, Dawie Groenewald used a chainsaw to remove the horn from a sedated rhino that had been hunted with a tranquilizer gun, prosecutors said.

The value of rhinoceros horns has skyrocketed in recent years, partly because of a false belief in their medicinal qualities. The horns can fetch as much as $30,000 to $35,000 a pound on the black market, officials said.


George Beck, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Alabama, speaks during a news conference, Thursday, Oct. 23, 2014, in Montgomery, Ala., about the indictment of two South African brothers on charges accusing them of conspiracy to sell illegal rhinoceros hunts in Africa, money laundering and trafficking in rhino horns. The indictment says Dawie and Janneman Groenewald traveled throughout the United States to attend hunting convention and gun shows, where they sold hunts at their ranch in Mussina, South Africa.

"These defendants tricked, lied and defrauded American citizens in order to profit from these illegal rhinoceros hunts," Beck said. "Not only did they break South African laws, but they laundered their ill-gotten gains through our banks here in Alabama."

Ashe described the scheme as appalling. He said South Africa has worked hard to protect its rhino population and uses legal, permitted trophy hunts as a tool to manage it. He said the illegal hunts "undermine that work and the reputation of responsible hunters everywhere."

Rhino horn is composed of keratin, like hair and fingernails and has no proven medical value. But demand for the horns has caused a 90 percent decline in rhino populations since 1970, according to a release issued at today's news conference.

The charges announced today result from a larger investigation called Operation Crash, a nationwide effort to stop the illegal killing of rhinoceroses and trafficking of rhino horns.

Operation Crash has resulted in 26 arrests and 18 convictions with prison terms as long as 70 months.

In 2010, Dawie Groenewald pleaded guilty to a felony violation of the Lacey Act in the Middle District of Alabama. He sold an illegal safari and later tried to transport a leopard trophy into the country. It was intercepted at JFK Airport.

He was sentenced to "time served," ordered to pay a $30,000 fine and $7,500 in restitution to the hunter, who cooperated with investigators."

We both know a raid on a store involving federal GWs and the IRS wasn't for just guns sold over the state line.

At $35,000 a pound, it sounds pretty profitable. Forget cows, I wanna raise rhinos.

And now the other names involved have REsurfaced and answers a lot of questions that were on this very board almost exactly 2 years ago. Per Montgomery Advertiser.

Wild guess.....Minnow Bucket?

Per Montgomery Advertiser and U.S. Attorney George Beck....Yep.

NOW LET ME BE PERFECTLY CLEAR: THE CURRENT OWNER OF THE MINNOW BUCKET WAS AND IS NOT IMPLICATED IN THIS MATTER!!! MAKE NO MISTAKE ON THAT!!! HE'S A GOOD FELLOW!!!

That article is misleading on many points. There has to be more to the story as there always is.

It's not and wasn't illegal to kill rhino's in 2010 and it's still not illegal today.

I'm. It saying hey didn't break some laws because they did but killing a s importing a rhino into this country wasn't illegal at that time.

Simply because I have read other articles on this I read this different. It doesn't say hunting rhino was illegal. The hunts were illegal: The hunts were conducted without proper permits, in areas where hunting wasn't allowed, and something involving helicopters. Also, it doesn't say importing was illegal just there was an understanding they couldn't. As I said, I understand it different because of other articles I've read. Also, SCI disassociated themselves from these guys awhile back. Anyone who knew these guys knew as it was said to me "they don't pass the smell test".

From National Geographic.

"U.S. authorities today announced the indictment of the alleged kingpin of a South African rhino poaching and trafficking syndicate, Dawie Groenewald, and his brother, Janneman, and their company Out of Africa Adventurous Safaris on multiple charges, including conspiracy, money laundering, and wildlife crime.
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The Groenewald brothers own and operate Out of Africa Adventurous Safaris, an outfitter that organizes and conducts trips in private hunting areas in Botswana, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, and South Africa, including at their 10,600-acre (4,300-hectare) game farm, Prachtig, about 40 miles (60 kilometers) south of the town of Musina, in South Africa's Limpopo Province.

U.S. authorities will be seeking to extradite the brothers from South Africa.

According to the 18-count indictment, between 2005 and 2010 the Groenewald brothers duped nine American hunters at their ranch into illegally shooting rhinos.

The brothers would then cut off the horns and sell them on the black market in Asia.

The Groenewalds and their safari company solicited American hunters at large regional sportsmen's shows, including Safari Club International conventions.

They also donated hunts to local chapters of Safari Club International in Kansas City, Missouri, and a National Rifle Association convention in Louisville, Kentucky.

They later offered hunters add-ons, such as the chance to shoot rhinos for additional fees (typically around $10,000). The outfitters said those rhinos were "problem" animals that were "dangerous" and "aggressive" and could be hunted legally. (Related: "Q&A: Can Airlifting Rhinos Out of South Africa Save the Species?")

The Groenewalds said that although the hunters couldn't export a rhino's horn as a trophy, they could measure it and take photographs and videos of the hunt and of themselves posed with the dead animal, which could then be submitted to record books.

The Groenewalds and Out of Africa also offered Americans the chance to conduct "green" hunts, when the hunter would shoot a rhinoceros with a tranquilizer gun and then pose for photographs with the sedated animal.

The Groenewalds, however, never obtained the necessary permits, and they also concealed the fact that the hunts would be in violation of South African law.

After photos were taken, the Groenewalds or their staff would cut off the horns with chainsaws or knives and sell the horns in Asia.

In essence, they earned profit twice: once for the sale of the hunt and again when they trafficked the horns.
Photo of a dehorned rhino.
Poachers shot this black rhino and hacked off its horn to sell on the black market. The animal survived and lives at the Save Valley Conservancy, in Zimbabwe.
Photograph Brent Stirton, Getty Images/National Geographic

Long Reach of U.S. Law

"These defendants tricked, lied, and defrauded American citizens in order to profit from these illegal rhinoceros hunts," stated George Beck, Jr., U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Alabama.

"Not only did they break South African laws, but they laundered their ill-gotten gains through our banks here in Alabama. We will not allow United States citizens to be used as a tool to destroy a species that is virtually harmless to people or other animals."

The Groenewalds and Out of Africa are being charged under several U.S. laws, including the Lacey Act. The Lacey Act is a powerful legal tool that makes it a crime to knowingly sell in interstate and foreign commerce wildlife that was taken, possessed, transported, or sold in violation of foreign law. In this case, it refers to selling animal hunts that violated South African law. (Related: "For Rangers on the Front Lines of Anti-Poaching Wars, Daily Trauma.")

"This case is intended to send a message to outfitters and professional hunters: The long reach of U.S. law will catch up to you if you involve our country and our hunters in criminal enterprises abroad," says Jean Williams, Deputy Assistant Attorney General at the U.S. Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division. "If you sell your illegal hunts here, you are subject to prosecution here, regardless of where the hunt takes place.

"This case is also a cautionary tale for American hunters. As a consumer market, we have a special obligation to make sure that we are following the rules designed to protect both U.S. and foreign wildlife."

Cooperation From South Africa

During the investigation into this illegal hunting scheme, U.S. authorities received substantial cooperation from South Africa's National Prosecuting Authority and the specialized endangered species unit within the organized crime unit of the South African Police Service, known as the Hawks.

"The fact that defendants used American hunters to execute this scheme is appalling—but not as appalling as the brutal tactics they employed to kill 11 critically endangered wild rhinos," said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe.

"South Africa has worked extraordinarily hard to protect its wild rhino population, using trophy hunts as a key management tool. The illegal hunts perpetrated by these criminals undermine that work and the reputation of responsible hunters everywhere."

Groenewald Charged in South Africa

Dawie Groenewald is the head of a rhino poaching and trafficking syndicate known in South Africa as the "Groenewald Gang" or "Musina Mafia." He was arrested in 2010 along with ten others, including his wife, veterinarians, and professional hunters. (Neither Janneman Groenewald nor Out of Africa Adventurous Safaris was included.)

The South African indictment is 637 pages long and charges the group with 1,872 counts of illegal hunting, dealing in rhino horns, racketeering, money laundering, and fraud. (Related: "1,000+ Rhinos Poached in 2013: Highest in Modern History.")

According to the book Killing for Profit, by Julien Rademeyer, Dawie Groenewald alone faces 1,736 counts that stem from his allegedly having illegally sold at least 384 rhino horns over a four-year period, having killed more than 39 of his own rhinos for their horns, and illegally dehorning more than 80 others.

That case has dragged on for almost four years, with trials postponed several times. The most recent, set for July 2014, was postponed to August 4, 2015, to allow conclusion of a civil suit regarding the constitutionality of current regulations for endangered and protected species.

The Groenewald group allegedly made about $6.8 million from the illegal sale of rhino horn.

According to the affidavit submitted by South Africa Police Service Colonel Johan Jooste, Dawie Groenewald managed the syndicate from 2006 to September 2010 while the others helped in pseudo-hunts, translocating and dehorning rhinos, making false applications for permits, and selling the horn. (Related: "Why African Rhinos Are Facing a Crisis.")

Groenewald Interviewed

In an interview detailed in Killing for Profit, Dawie Groenewald expressed confidence that he will beat the South African case.

"They [the South African prosecutors] will eventually come and say there has been a mistake on a permit here, or something wrong there, let's sort it all out. Let's make arrangements for a fine.

"I am not a poacher," he told Rademeyer. "That word makes me sick. It is not necessary for me to poach a rhino.

"I don't enjoy killing rhinos," he continued. "But I'm killing them because of the system. We are forced to shoot them because that is the only way the trophies can be sold and exported. You have to kill the animal to sell its horns."

He went on to tell Rademeyer that he makes a lot of money from hunting, saying, "For me, to do these hunts is very good money. It is really good money."

Operation Crash

The U.S. indictment is part of Operation Crash, an ongoing multiagency effort to detect, deter, and prosecute those engaged in the illegal killing of rhinos and the trafficking of their horns. The operation is led by the Special Investigations Unit of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement, in coordination with the U.S. Department of Justice.

Operation Crash takes its name from the term "crash," which describes a herd of rhinos.

So far, there have been 26 arrests and 18 convictions, with prison terms as long as 70 months. The indictments against the Groenewalds and their company are the first of Operation Crash that involve the direct killing of wild rhinos.

Those convicted include Zhifei Li, the "boss" of three antique dealers who obtained and smuggled rhino horn out of the U.S. into China on his behalf; Qiang "Jeffrey" Wang, who smuggled Asian artifacts, including "libation cups" made from rhinoceros horn and ivory; and Michael Slattery, Jr., an Irish national who illegally trafficked rhino horn throughout the United States, and is alleged to belong to an organized criminal group engaged in rhino horn trafficking.

As of October 14, 868 rhinos had been poached this year in South Africa alone.

Yet the numbers are really far worse. Cases like the ones against Dawie and Janneman Groenewald and Out of Africa Adventurous Safaris are not included in those figures.

"What we're seeing here is added to those awful statistics," Williams noted. "It's even larger than what's documented."

In sentencing Zhifei Li in New Jersey, U.S. District Judge Esther Salas reflected on the seriousness of rhino horn trafficking charges.

"The reality is there is a need to send a message to society, to those that deal in this market, this black market, that if you are apprehended, whether you are smuggling old rhinoceros horns, horns for black rhinoceros, or some white tusks from elephants, if you are doing this, and you are internationally exporting these materials, you are going to face severe and swift punishment.""

Skully reckon how much I can get a set of knife scales for? Im evil cause thats all I thought about reading all that.

It's not called the Minnow Bucket anymore, is it?

Yes it is. It is owned by Ken of Ken's Wildlife Images Taxidermy and Ken's Deer Processing now.

Hmmmm......

This is interesting because about ten years ago I was told by a friend who is a high ranking GW that they along with the Federal Game and Fish guys were looking for a LEO from the south to pose as a guy looking to book an exotic hunting trip. I have never worked undercover but figured I could do a good job posing as a southern, redneck hunter so I told him I would do it. Later I heard back from him that they didn't need me. Now I'll have to ask him if this was the case.

Maybe their penalty/sentence will be to care for Ebola patients wearing flip flops and a G-string only.