A federal judge has eased travel restrictions for Igor Lytvynchuk. Photo: Screenshot
A federal judge has eased the travel restrictions placed on Igor Lytvynchuk, the Washington man caught on video throwing a large rock at a monk seal in Lahaina earlier this year. The new order comes ahead of Lytvynchuk’s next scheduled appearance in court in Honolulu on November 16.
Igor Lytvynchuk instantly became one of the internet’s most notorious heels when footage of him throwing a rock at Lani the monk seal went viral in May.
“I don’t care, I’m rich. I love Maui and I visit here every few months,” he said in the viral video, adding that he could pay any fine that might come his way.
The ordeal has him facing more than a possible fine though. Lytvynchuk was charged with violating the “taking” statutes of the Endangered Species Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act three weeks after the incident. He faces up to one year in prison for each charge, if convicted, as well as a fine of up to $50,000 under the Endangered Species Act; a fine of up to $20,000 under the Marine Mammal Protection Act; and a fine of up to $100,000 under the Criminal Fine Improvements Act.
He pleaded “not guilty,” and his lawyer claimed that Lytvynchuk was actually trying to protect a nearby turtle by scaring the seal away.
“There were two large turtles in the water. When he threw the rock, the intention was to scare the seal away. He had no idea, again, the significance of monk seals. He frankly didn’t know we had seals in Hawaii,” Lytvynchuk’s Honolulu-based defense attorney Myles Briener told Hawaiian media. “He assumed that when he saw the seal, the monk seal, pushing the turtles off of the rocks, that he was doing something good by scaring it away.”
A judge put the Washington resident on $25,000 bond with travel initially restricted to Western Washington and Oahu for court appearances. The new travel restrictions have been eased to allow Lytvynchuk to travel through the entire state of Washington, permitting work-related travel in the state.
