Month: June 2026

Safeguarding Heritage and Securing the Global Market: Antiquities Coalition Joins Global Leaders in Rome to Prevent Art Crime

Posted on by Parker Blackwell

Executive Director Tess Davis contributes to high-level workshops and the “Rome Statement on Art Market Integrity”

Crimes involving art and antiquities pose major national security threats to countries globally. 

Recognizing these clear dangers, on June 4–5 in Rome, the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT) hosted a gathering of international organizations, financial supervisors, law enforcement agencies, and private sector stakeholders to create actionable solutions to secure the global art market. 

The workshop, “Balancing the Protection of Cultural Heritage and the Prevention of Financial Crime,” resulted in the formal adoption of the “Rome Statement on Art Market Integrity.” This landmark document outlines non-binding conclusions designed to drive global awareness, supercharge international cooperation, and establish unified best practices. 

Crucially, the Statement declares that the traditional separation between heritage protection and financial crime prevention is an outdated model. Moving forward, global actors should harmonize existing international standards—linking anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CTF) frameworks directly with cultural property protection protocols.

As observed by the Antiquities Coalition Financial Crimes Task Force, the art market can serve as a lucrative vehicle for money laundering, sanctions evasion, and terrorist financing. Sophisticated criminal networks routinely exploit regulatory blind spots—directly undermining global financial stability and international security.

By actively aligning standards across the art and finance fields, the international community safeguards our shared heritage while ensuring the integrity of global financial systems.

Executive Director Tess Davis was honored to attend and contribute to these discussions. Reflecting on the event, Davis remarked. 

“The “Rome Statement” underscores a powerful truth: as long as criminals exploit art and artifacts, we cannot protect our heritage without securing the modern markets that trade it. It’s past time that financial regulators and cultural experts see each other as partners in the fight.”

Read the “Rome Statement on Art Market Integrity,” here.

See the UNIDROIT press release to learn more about the workshop’s proceedings, here.

To learn more about past Antiquities Coalition initiatives to encourage responsible market and trade practices, visit the Financial Crimes Task Force, here.

Cambodia Reclaims Sacred Khmer Treasures in Landmark Repatriation

Posted on by Parker Blackwell

Manhattan DA Acknowledges Antiquities Coalition in Latest Recovery

On June 9, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office Antiquities Trafficking Unit announced the return of three looted Khmer sculptures to the Kingdom of Cambodia, marking another important victory in the fight to recover cultural treasures lost to looting.

The successful recovery of these sculptures highlights the indispensable role of dedicated law enforcement units in disrupting illicit trafficking networks. Through painstaking provenance research and investigations into trafficking operations, the Antiquities Trafficking Unit continues to set a global standard for cultural property protection and asset recovery.

Among the returned objects is a sacred Guardian Deity stolen from Koh Ker, the ancient capital of the Khmer Empire. Investigators traced the sculpture to trafficking networks associated with the notorious art dealer Douglas Latchford, whose decades-long smuggling operation funneled hundreds of looted Cambodian antiquities into the international art market and major museum collections.

The repatriation also includes a rare 7th-century sandstone lintel depicting Kāla, a powerful Hindu figure associated with time and destruction, carved in the distinctive Thala Borivat style of northern Cambodia. In addition, authorities recovered a 7th-century sandstone head of Harihara, a composite deity uniting Vishnu and Shiva, which had been trafficked out of Cambodia decades ago and was ultimately surrendered to investigators earlier this year.

The return underscores the continuing challenge of recovering stolen cultural heritage and dismantling the trafficking networks that profit from it. While significant progress has been made, many important Cambodian artifacts remain missing.

These sculptures are more than works of art; they are sacred cultural treasures that embody Cambodia’s history, religious traditions, and national identity. Their return helps restore an important part of the country’s cultural legacy.

These latest returns build on years of investigations and bilateral cooperation. The Antiquities Coalition, a longstanding partner in the fight against heritage crime, is honored to support law enforcement, government authorities, and cultural heritage experts working to bring looted antiquities home.

Read the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office official announcement to learn more about the recovery, here.

Major Press Coverage of The Man Who Stole the Gods Shines New Light on Cambodia’s Stolen Past

Posted on by Parker Blackwell

AC co-hosts talk with author Matthew Campbell on the Latchford network and the human cost of cultural racketeering

The Antiquities Coalition was proud to co-host, with New America, a discussion featuring journalist and author Matt Campbell on his new book, The Man Who Stole the Gods. The event brought together experts, advocates, and members of the public for an important conversation about one of the most consequential antiquities trafficking cases of the modern era: the Douglas Latchford network.

Campbell’s book traces how antiquities dealer Latchford built a vast network to funnel looted Cambodian antiquities through the global art market, and into prominent private collections and major museums.

During the event, Campbell, journalist Peter Bergen, and AC Executive Director Tess Davis explored the scale and persistence of Latchford’s criminal enterprise and the lasting harm it inflicted on Cambodia and its people.

The speakers agreed, deep-dives like The Man Who Stole the Gods are essential to help policymakers, law enforcement, museums, and the public better understand the human costs of antiquities trafficking and the need for stronger safeguards. Far from victimless crimes, acts of cultural racketeering can devastate communities, erase history, and fuel armed conflict and instability.

Much of Latchford’s pillage has been linked to the Khmer Rouge, the regime responsible for one of the twentieth century’s worst genocides. Understanding how these “blood antiquities” entered the international market is essential to recognizing the broader security, ethical, and human consequences of cultural racketeering.

With this investigation comes an opportunity for recovery. Latchford’s network placed looted Cambodian antiquities into respected institutions across the United States and beyond. American museums have an opportunity to identify additional trafficked objects, partner with law enforcement, and support the return of cultural heritage to the people of Cambodia.

The Antiquities Coalition remains committed to advancing public awareness, supporting rigorous investigation, and promoting solutions that protect cultural heritage from criminal exploitation. Greater transparency and continued scrutiny of trafficking networks like Latchford’s are essential to accountability, justice, and the protection of our shared cultural heritage.

Find more information on The Man Who Stole the Gods, here.

Watch a recording of the full discussion, here.

Russian Air Strikes on Cultural Sites Underscore the Weaponization of Heritage

Posted on by Parker Blackwell

Antiquities Coalition Calls for Accountability Following Attacks on Ukrainian Cultural and Religious Sites

The Antiquities Coalition condemns the continued targeting of Ukraine’s cultural heritage as part of Russia’s ongoing war of aggression. The destruction and damage of cultural and religious sites not only threatens irreplaceable monuments and collections, but also undermines the Ukrainian right to culture and national identity. These attacks exemplify how cultural heritage is being exploited as a weapon of war.

Russia intentionally targeted Ukrainian cultural and religious centers in air strikes on June 15, 2026. Among those damaged are structures in the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra complex; the Mystetskyi Arsenal National Cultural, Art, and Museum Complex; the Oleksandr Dovzhenko National Film Studio and costume collection; the Kharkiv Art Museum; and the House of Organ and Chamber Music in Dnipro.

Part of the Kyiv Saint-Sophia Cathedral and Related Monastic Buildings complex, the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra is one of Ukraine’s most significant spiritual and cultural landmarks. In 2022, UNESCO added the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra to its List of World Heritage in Danger. “This would be equivalent to bombing Notre-Dame…” remarked French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot.

The intentional targeting of Ukraine’s historical and cultural landmarks is a violation of numerous international conventions, including the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, international humanitarian law, and the World Heritage Convention.

For more information, see official statements issued by UNESCO and the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS). For additional documentation on this and past attacks, follow the work of organizations like НеМо: Ukrainian Heritage Monitoring Lab.

As documented by Ukrainian and international monitoring organizations, these attacks form part of a broader pattern of damage to and destruction of cultural heritage throughout Russia’s full-scale invasion. The Antiquities Coalition joins partners around the world in calling for accountability for violations of international law and for the protection of cultural heritage in times of armed conflict.

Want to learn more about our efforts to support Ukrainian partners?

Visit the Ten Most Wanted Missing Antiquities List to help find the missing Mariupol Bull Figurine, an 8,000-year-old Neolithic carving, looted during Russia’s 2022 siege of Ukraine, here.

Read how the Antiquities Coalition and Raphael Lemkin Society are partnering to help NATO counter the weaponization of cultural heritage, here.

Revisit the op-ed, “The return of looted antiquities should be part of any Ukraine peace settlement” by AC Chairman and Founder Deborah Lehr, here.