AN IRISHMAN IS suing news organisation Bloomberg for €16.5 million ($20 million) after the publication ran a story claiming he was the mastermind behind a global ring that smuggles rhino horns.

Limerick traveller Richard ‘Kerry’ O’Brien claims he was defamed in the article The Irish Clan Behind Europe’s Rhino-Horn Theft Epidemic, which was published a year ago tomorrow.

According to the New York Post, O’Brien filed a complaint against Bloomberg, its reporter Adam Higginbotham, and senior executive editor Josh Tyrangiel in New York County Supreme Court on Monday.

The antiques dealer claims the article linked him to the Rathkeale Rovers, a gang accused of stealing rhino horns and other valuable artefacts from museums.

Some reports also linked them to the theft of a rhino horn at Michael Flatley’s house last year.

In court papers, the Limerick man denies being involved with the Rathkeale Rovers and said his business deals as a furniture importer are all legal.

O’Brien claims in the suit that Bloomberg Businessweek caused him emotional distress after misidentifying him as the man in whose home gardaí found four rhino horns in 2013 — when the culprit was actually his nephew who has the same name.

People are not impressed by Michael Flatley’s rhino horn