It seems that Walter Earl, owner of The Antique Gallery in Alaska, did not want to abide by the law, and will now pay the price. Not only was Earl illegally buying and selling walrus ivory, but he was doing everything he could not to pay taxes. As you can guess, authorities caught him.
According to an article in one of the trade publications (Maine Antique Digest, June 2020), over a number of years Earl cashed checks totaling more than $2 million. Each of those checks were just under $10,000 to avoid the bank from reporting the transactions to the IRS. Earl was also selling firearms without a license, and did not file tax returns from 1998 – 2017. Wow!
It will be interesting to hear how much Earl has to pay, and how much time he will serve behind bars.
Source: Anchorage gallery owner charged with illegally buying and selling walrus ivory, tax evasion