Vile Decorations
A 129-foot pleasure yacht was finishing a Transatlantic trip being delivered by an Italian freighter from Spain to Port Everglades (Fort Lauderdale) when it was boarded by U.S. Customs agents. What they found was a nicely decorated yacht, but instead of a simple rubber-stamped entry, the agents looked closely at the furnishings. What they found was a plethora of illegal decorative touches: ivory and the skins of several endangered species, including Python, Jaguar, Lion, Anaconda, and Zebra. For the (sort of) full story, click here and now, here. Turns out the owner of the vessel is a Russian turned American billionaire named Tamir Shapir, who is the 785th most richest man in the world, according to Forbes magazine’s list of billionaires. Can’t buy class, or sense, I guess.
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