Billionaire may be on hot seat over hunting trip

Remember Dan Duncan, the founder of pipeline company Enterprise Products Partners and the richest man in Houston? He's in the news again today, but this time it isn't for his wealth. Instead, Duncan may face criminal charges connected with a 2002 hunting trip in Siberia; it seems Duncan shot and killed a moose and sheep from a helicopter during the trip, a practice that's illegal in Russia. And though no complaints or charges were filed in Russia, prosecutors from Washington could use a 107-year-old law against the international trafficking of rare plants and animals to being felony charges against Duncan. If he's found guilty, he could face jail time. "What the hell is the U.S.' interest in bringing felony charges here for hunting on Russian soil, where not one single person has complained?" Duncan's attorney, Rusty Hardin, asked the Chronicle. "Is this really the best use of our prosecutorial resources?"

Duncan got interested in big-game hunting in the 1970s and has pursued it with gusto: The Safari Club International Record Book has 550 big kills listed for him, the Chronicle reports. Duncan's guide in Siberia was one he had used before, and Duncan said he trusted the guide to tell him what was legal and what wasn't. "They're like marshals on a golf course who tell you if you can take a penalty shot. They tell the hunter exactly what he can and cannot do, since none of us can know all the laws of all the different countries," he told the Chron. "We admitted from the word 'go' that I shot them from the helicopter. The whole question is: Did I know it was illegal? I did not."

Duncan said the moose was flown to a Russian town where the meat was given away; its bust and the bust of the sheep (which he said is similar to a Dall Sheep found in Alaska) are in storage at Duncan's exotic game ranch near Bastrop. The Chronicle reports that Duncan first learned about the investigation into the hunting trip a year ago when a grand jury was convened in Charlottesville, Va., where the outfitter that organized the trip is based; a second grand jury was convened in Houston, probably because the trophies arrived in the United States through here. It's not clear what Duncan's punishment will be if he's convicted.