Two California Men Sentenced for Rhino Horn Trafficking

A baby white rhino with its mother

Washington — The sentencing May 15 of two California businessmen in Los Angeles for trafficking in rhino horn will send both to prison and ensure that $800,000 of their illegally acquired “profits” end up helping protect rhinos in Africa.

Vinh Chung “Jimmy” Kha and Felix Kha pleaded guilty in September 2012 to federal felony charges brought as a result of Operation Crash, an ongoing U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) investigation of rhino horn trafficking. The two were ordered to spend 42 month and 46 months in prison, respectively. They also will pay $20,000 in criminal fines (plus $100,000 from Jimmy Kha’s company) and $185,000 in tax fraud penalties and assessments and forfeit seized rhino horns and other assets to the government. These assets include $800,000 in cash, gold, jewelry and precious stones that will be turned over to the USFWS-managed Multinational Species Conservation Fund to support on-the-ground rhino conservation efforts in Africa.

“Rhinos in Africa are being poached to the brink of extinction because of the demand for rhino horn,” said USFWS Director Dan Ashe. “It’s only fitting that the ill-gotten gains of rhino horn traffickers be used to protect those animals that remain in the wild.”

A number of U.S. wildlife protection laws funnel criminal fine money into accounts that support the enforcement of those statutes, and federal judges in wildlife cases sometimes direct that “community service” or restitution payments be made to conservation organizations. But money and other cash assets forfeited as a result of federal criminal investigations typically end up in the general treasury, supporting overall government operations.

“The special agents and federal prosecutors supporting Operation Crash worked hard not only to bring these defendants to justice, but also to make sure the international effort to conserve rhinos received this extra financial boost,” Ashe said. “The money from this investigation more than doubles the amount typically distributed from the Multinational Species Fund in grants each year to support efforts by African nations to protect rhinos.”

The Khas are among 14 defendants across the country arrested to date in Operation Crash, which has exposed large-scale trafficking in rhino horn in the United States to feed markets in Vietnam and other Asian countries, USFWS said in an announcement of the latest sentences. With rhino horn reportedly selling for as much as $60,000 to $65,000 per kilogram in Asia, poaching has reached unprecedented levels in Africa, USFWS said. In 2012, the service added, 668 rhinos were killed in South Africa alone (home to the largest remaining populations of the species), a number that stood at fewer than 20 per year just five years ago.

Rhinoceros horn is a sought-after commodity, despite the fact that international trade has been largely banned since 1976. The demand for rhinoceros horn, which is used by some cultures for ornamental carvings, good luck charms or alleged medicinal purposes, has resulted in a thriving black market — a market that has escalated in recent years in both volume and per-unit profit, USFWS has said.

Before 1900, more than 1 million rhinos roamed wild in Africa alone, according to USFWS. There were more in Asia. But their numbers have declined drastically.

Fewer than 50 Javan rhinoceroses exist now, and only 200 Sumatran rhinos, according to USFWS. There are fewer than 3,000 Indian rhinos remaining in the wild.

Between 1970 and 1992, the black rhino population declined by 96 percent, according to USFWS. They went extinct in many countries, and by 1992, only 2,300 individuals survived in seven countries instead of occurring throughout sub-Saharan Africa. In 2012, there were about 4,200 black rhinos remaining, USFWS has said.

The Multinational Species Conservation Fund was created by Congress to provide grant money to support conservation of rhinos, tigers and other highly endangered species in the wild. Specifically, grants for rhino conservation in Africa have been used over the years to strengthen protections for rhinos, conduct surveys of populations and habitat, develop management capacity, carry out environmental education and awareness campaigns, involve local communities in conservation activities and develop alternative livelihoods to discourage poaching as an “economic” activity. The fund now provides about $700,000 each year for rhino conservation efforts in Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa, much of them targeting anti-poaching efforts, USFWS said.