IPFS News Link • Declaration of Independence
In the matter of the United States of America v. One Tyrannosaurus Bataar Skeleton
• The AgitatorOver at the Americans for Forfeiture Reform website, policy analyst Scott
Meiner reports on the federal civil asset forfeiture complaint in the
matter of United States of America v. One Tyrannosaurus Bataar Skeleton. This is an unusual case as the government’s case nakedly asserts, with no supporting evidence,
that Eric Prokopi, owner of this particular dinosaur skeleton illegally
imported the skeleton from Mongolia (Prokopi has manifests indicating
he imported the skeleton from Great Britain). Additionally, the US
government’s legal argument is premised on the impossibility of anyone
in Mongolia owning fossils as private property, a claim that stems from
the Communist-era First Mongolian Constitution, which prohibits the ownership of private property.