A lawyer's commentary on cultural property law and its impact on cultural property crime, antiquities trafficking, looted archaeology, illicit trade, art theft, heritage preservation, and museum risk management.
A lawyer's commentary on cultural property law and its impact on cultural property crime, antiquities trafficking, looted archaeology, illicit trade, art theft, heritage preservation, and museum risk management.
The case of United States v. Approximately Four Hundred Fifty (450) Ancient Cuneiform Tablets and Approximately Three Thousand (3,000) Ancient Clay Bullae–the Hobby Lobby cultural artifacts case—involves two parts: (1)…
Cuneiform tablet subject to forfeiture. After a six and a half year probe by federal authority into ancient cultural property imports acquired by Hobby Lobby, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in…
Customs Entry Form 6059B When people become aware of the rampant looting, smuggling, and destruction of cultural property, they show concern about preserving humanity’s shared cultural heritage. And when U.S. Customs…
A letter from Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, Russia’s envoy to the United Nations, has named dealers and shippers alleged to have facilitated the trade of looted antiquities from ISIS-controlled territory in Syria. Delivered…
Transnational cultural heritage trafficking thrives on an opaque art and antiquities market. Attractive features of this marketplace include discretion surrounding business transactions, easy creation of shell corporations, the high probability…
In the annals of cultural property law, prosecutions targeting transnational antiquities trafficking networks are rare. Even more rare are felony convictions. Scarcer still are prison sentences. So what happened this…