A Florida man described as “a one-man black market in prehistoric fossils” was arrested on Wednesday on charges of smuggling dinosaur skeletons from Mongolia, authorities said.

The arrest of Eric Prokopi, 38, of Gainesville, Florida, comes amid an international custody battle over a Tyrannosaurus bataar skeleton seized by the United States (US) government shortly after it was auctioned in Manhattan in May for US$1.05 million (S$1.3 million)

“Our recent seizure of the Tyrannosaurus bataar skeleton from Eric Prokopi was merely the tip of the iceberg,” Mr Preet Bharara, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement.

“Our investigation uncovered a one-man black market in prehistoric fossils,” he said.