Original article published in " The Week" M agazine Eric Prokopi (U S resident) , a self described “Commercial Palaeontologist”, was arrested by agents from the US Department of Homeland Security at his home in Gainseville, Florida last October. Prokopi fell under suspicion after he was identified as the dealer behind the $1.1 million sale of a Tarbosaurus (a cousin of the Tyrannosaurus Rex), at an auction in New York last summer. The sale caused an international furore – the president of Mongolia, where the dinosaur was discovered – tried to have it stopped, and the skeleton was eventually seized. On 27 December, Porkopi pleaded guilty to fraudulently importing the dinosaur and agreed to hand over several others. He faces 17 years in prison. What exactly did he do wrong? While it is legal to sell fossils and dinosaur remains once they have been dug up, most countries, Particularly China, Mongolia, Morocco and Brazil – which between them boast some o...