Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced the return of 55 ancient artifacts to Greece, worth more than $20 million, during a repatriation ceremony yesterday in New York attended by the Greek Minister of Culture, Lina Mendoni.
The surrender follows the conclusion in December of a multinational investigation into Michael Steinhardt, a billionaire financier and owner of one of the world’s largest private collections of ancient art. Forty-seven of the pieces that will be returned to Greece came from the Steinhardt collection and another eight came from another investigation that is still ongoing.
In a statement from the New York District Attorney’s Office, the investigation, opened in 2017, revealed 180 stolen antiques, valued at $70 million. Mr Bragg said more than 90 relics were being returned to five countries, including Iraq, Egypt, Israel, Syria and Turkey.
Mr. Steinhardt will not face criminal charges but agreed to an unprecedented lifetime ban on acquiring antiquities.
“While this collection of exquisite ancient artifacts is valued at $20 million, each piece is an irreplaceable demonstration of Greece’s enduring strength, history and cultural heritage,” said Prosecutor Bragg. “I am honored to return these 55 magnificent cultural treasures to the people of Greece – our largest transfer of antiquities of their kind to this nation. I thank my office’s Antiquities Trafficking Unit and our partners at Homeland Security Investigations for their superb efforts.
Dr. Mendoni thanked the District Attorney’s Office and its cooperation with his department.
“The illegal trafficking of our country’s cultural treasures is a serious trauma that affects all Greeks around the world. We are working systematically to end this crime,” said Dr. Mendoni.
Acting Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in New York, Ricky J Patel, was also present at the repatriation ceremony. He said the partnership between his agency and the prosecutor’s office was instrumental in identifying the items and returning them.
“The stories attached to many of these irreplaceable objects date back to ancient Greece, between 6,000 and 4,000 BC, and tell the history and culture of an older world. Fortunately, they will now return home, so their stories can be told to future generations,” said Special Agent Patel.
Citing court records, US broadcaster ABC said the 180 recovered items were looted and smuggled from 11 countries and were trafficked by 12 criminal smuggling networks.
THE Israel Times said the recovered antiquities would be flown to Greece for delivery to different regional museums depending on where they were originally stolen.
