U.S. Ivory Dealer Victor Gordon Sentenced to 30 Months for Smuggling
Judge cites cost to African lives, calls case "egregious."
An African art dealer who prosecutors say was a key figure for elephant ivory smugglers operating in West and central Africa was sentenced Wednesday to 30 months in a U.S. prison by a federal judge in Brooklyn, New York.
Victor Gordon, of Philadelphia, had pleaded guilty in 2012 to violating the African Elephant Conservation Act in a case that grew out of a broader investigation by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service into African-born ivory smugglers active in the U.S.
Poaching in West and central Africa is particularly widespread and violent, involving the killing of both park rangers and poachers. Sixty-five percent of the region's forest elephants have been slaughtered in the past decade.
Gordon, who paid $150,000 as part of his plea
