ICE Newsroom: "Brooklyn man indicted on cultural artifacts smuggling charges" - Jul 6, 2020
Ashraf Omar Eldarir, a U.S. citizen, is being charged with smuggling Egyptian cultural property into the United States. Eldarir, 47, was previously arrested on a complaint filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York (EDNY) in February 2020, after arriving at JFK International Airport with three suitcases filled with undeclared Egyptian antiquities. See also from DOJ - Brooklyn Man Indicted on Cultural Artifacts Smuggling Charges.
ARCA: "Auction house seizure: a Roman marble portrait head of the Emperor Septimius Severus, circa 200 CE seized at Christie's" - Jul 1, 2020
An ancient Roman marble head was seized on the basis of a search warrant requested by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office on June 24th at Christie’s auction house based on evidence provided by the Italian Carabinieri for the Protection of Cultural Heritage, attesting that the portrait bust had been stolen from Italy in on 18 November 1985 before eventually landing in New York.
UN News: "UNESCO urges caution over fraudulent African artefacts, sold in its name" - Jul 1, 2020
The organization said that false documents claimed that UNESCO had authorized the transactions, and certified the monetary value of collections, which is not true.
Guardian: "Six arrests in France over theft of Banksy artwork from Bataclan" - Jun 28, 2020
Six people have been arrested in France over the theft of a Banksy mural from the Bataclan music venue in Paris. The work, a tribute to the victims of the 2015 Paris terrorist attack which left 90 concertgoers dead, was removed last year from a fire door at the venue by thieves armed with angle grinders. The theft was denounced across France, and the work was recovered from an Italian farmhouse earlier this month.
Art Newspaper: "Paris dealer who sold golden sarcophagus to New York’s Metropolitan Museum charged with fraud and money laundering" - Jun 26, 2020
The French dealer Christophe Kunicki, an expert on Mediterranean archaeology, was charged in Paris on Friday with gang fraud and money laundering. Kunicki and his husband and associate Richard Sampaire, who was also charged, were released Friday night under judicial supervision by the Paris judge Jean-Michel Gentil.
Art Newspaper: "Russian theatre director Kirill Serebrennikov found guilty of fraud and ordered to pay $1.85m in damages to culture ministry" - Jun 26, 2020
The theatre director Kirill Serebrennikov and two other people have been found guilty of embezzling Russian government funds while staging a contemporary arts festival. The group were given suspended sentences by a Moscow court on 26 June, and were also ordered to pay 129m rubles ($1.85m) in damages to the culture ministry.