The fossil of a dinosaur that roamed
the earth 70 million years ago should be turned over to the United States by an
auction house so that it can be returned to its home in Mongolia, a lawsuit
brought by the U.S. government demanded Monday.

The nearly complete Tyrannosaurus
bataar skeleton was imported from Great Britain to Gainesville, Fla., in March
2010 with erroneous claims that it originated in Great Britain and was worth
only $15,000, according to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in
Manhattan.

It sold at auction on May 20 for
more than $1 million even though Mongolia”s president had obtained a temporary
restraining order from Texas State Civil District Judge Carlos R. Cortez
prohibiting its auction, the suit said. The completion of the sale was made
contingent upon the outcome of any court proceedings. The suit did not identify
the buyer.

James T. Hayes Jr., head of the U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement”s Homeland Security Investigations in New
York, said criminal smugglers misrepresented the fossil to customs officials
when they illegally imported it into the United States.

Jim Halperin, cofounder of the The
Heritage Auctions, a defendant in the lawsuit, said: “We auctioned the
Tyrannosaurus bataar conditionally, subject to future court rulings, so this
matter is now in the hands of lawyers and politicians.”

He added: “We believe our
consignor purchased fossils in good faith, then spent a year of his life and
considerable expense identifying, restoring, mounting and preparing what had
previously been a much less valuable matrix of unassembled, underlying bones.
We sincerely hope there will be a just and fair outcome for all parties.”

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in
a news release that the skeletal remains are “of tremendous cultural and
historic significance to the people of Mongolia, and provide a connection to
the country”s prehistoric past. When the skeleton was allegedly looted, a piece
of the country”s natural history was stolen with it, and we look forward to
returning it to its rightful place.”

The release included a quote from
Tsakhia Elbegdorj, Mongolia”s president, saying he was thankful for the legal
action to recover the skeleton, calling it “an important piece of the cultural
heritage of the Mongolian people.”

He added: “Cultural looting and
profiteering cannot be tolerated anywhere and this cooperation between our
governments is a large step forward to stopping it.”

The lawsuit said the dinosaur”s
remains were believed to have been discovered in the Gobi Desert between 1995
and 2005. An auction house catalog listing of the skeleton said it measures
24-feet long and 8-feet tall, the suit said.

A June 5 examination by at least
five experts specializing in bataars resulted in unanimous agreement that the
skeleton was a Tyrannosaurus bataar and almost certainly originated in the
Nemegt Basin in Mongolia.

One expert, Khishigjav Tsogtbaatar,
head of Paleontological Laboratory and Museum in Mongolia, said in a document
filed with the lawsuit that it appeared some part of the skeleton”s skull and
postcranium were destroyed by poachers who lacked professional knowledge about
proper excavation techniques.

U.S. authorities said Tyrannosaurus
bataars were first discovered in 1946 during a joint Soviet-Mongolian
expedition to the Gobi Desert in the Mongolian Omnogovi Province. Since 1924,
Mongolia has enacted laws declaring fossils to be the property of the
government of Mongolia and criminalizing their export from the country.