Author: Admin

Latest AC Story Map Recounts Black Market Journey of Original Bill of Rights Copy

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In recognition of Bill of Rights Day on December 15, the Antiquities Coalition is releasing its fifth, fully immersive Story Map, titled “Lost Rights: An Exploration of the Misadventures of a Stolen American Relic.”

The title and concept for this Story Map are both derived from a book by David Howard, whom Deborah Lehr interviewed on June 30 for an AC exclusive webinar.

Like Howard’s book, this Story Map recounts the journey of one of the original copies of the Bill of Rights through the hands of some of the more prominent antiquities dealers in America. The document was one of just eleven surviving original renditions of the 10 amendments to the Constitution submitted to the 13 states in 1789. 

The priceless document was first taken from the North Carolina State Capitol as a spoil of war by a Union soldier in 1865. Following the theft, the document traveled the country for over a century, tucking into private offices and quietly shifting through the hands of multiple antiquities dealers.

Follow its journey below:

By raising awareness of cases such as North Carolina’s Lost Rights, the Antiquities Coalition hopes to help recover invaluable cultural patrimony. If you have any information on lost or stolen American documents, please visit https://tips.fbi.gov/. Also, visit our website to explore The Ten Most Wanted Antiquities list, an illustrated guide to some of the most significant looted, stolen, and missing artifacts from around the world.

Antiquities Coalition Pens Support for Increased Regulations in Arts & Cultural Heritage Law Committee Newsletter

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The Fiscal Year 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is all but sure to become U.S. law as of December 14, having passed in Congress with a 335-78 vote in the House on December 8 and a 84-13 vote in the Senate on December 11. Among other things, the NDAA will remove antiquities dealers’ current exemption from what are now standard anti-money laundering (AML) laws and regulations under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA).

Prior to these recent developments, Antiquities Coalition Executive Director Tess Davis submitted her support for the NDAA’s enhanced regulations in an op-ed for the Fall 2020 newsletter of the Art & Cultural Heritage Law Committee, a committee of the American Bar Association Section of International Law.

In “Increased Regulation Deters Crime—and is Good for the Art Market,” Davis asserted that “criminal misuse of the art market is threatening not only U.S. national security and economic integrity—but also responsible collectors, dealers, galleries, auction houses, and museums,” citing the U.S. Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations’s July 2020 Rotenberg report (“The Art Industry and U.S. Policies that Undermine Sanctions”) and the Office of Foreign Assets Control’s October 2020 Advisory and Guidance on Potential Sanctions Risks Arising from Dealings in High-Value Artwork.

“The Rotenberg report and OFAC advisory underscore why the $28.3 billion American art market is called the country’s largest unregulated industry,” Davis wrote. “Art stands alone, among sectors of similar risk and size, in its exemption from the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA).”

After explaining what the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) does and what businesses it applies to, Davis highlighted the illogical loophole at hand: had the Rotenbergs been dealing in goods or services covered by the BSA, the businesses involved would have been required to, as Davis described, “take basic steps to ensure the transactions were not covers for financial crimes.”

Many of these steps, Davis noted, align with the safeguards created by following the best business practices of the 21st century art market—but without a legal requirement, adherence to these best practices is essentially optional.

Davis did not ignore the primary concerns of art and antiquities dealers, who, she wrote, fear “not only an erosion in their business culture, which for centuries has been built on discretion, but also increased compliance costs in an economic recession.” 

That said, Davis countered these arguments by pointing not only to the fine print of the NDAA, but also to the effects of such legislation on similar and global markets.

“[A]ny regulations would only be crafted after an extensive ‘notice and comment’ period, during which the art market would have ample opportunity to work with the government in tailoring effective rules,” Davis wrote. “And comparable sectors have continued to thrive under the BSA, as has the European art market under similar measures, providing countless lessons from which to learn.”

Aside from protecting U.S. interests, Davis added, increased due diligence will also help the art market avoid “reputational harm, attorneys’ fees, and potential civil criminal liability.”

“To couch the proposed changes in political terms, the art market’s policy of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ has failed,” Davis concluded. “Through the BSA or other means, it is time to move on to ‘trust—but verify.’”

To read the full article, click here.

Think Tank Makes Recommendations for Strengthening the Legal Trade in Cultural Material

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New Antiquities Coalition Policy Brief Proposes Multilateral Export Control Regimes to Fortify the Legitimate Trade in Cultural Objects

Today, the Antiquities Coalition has released a Policy Brief that examines the possibility of implementing Multilateral Export Control Regimes (MECRs) to strengthen the legal trade in cultural objects in order to prevent the illicit trade. The Multilateral Export Control Regime (MECR) model ensures that importers from market countries make contact with authorities in supplier countries and justify the end use of an intended import before receiving an export license from supplier countries.

Author Sam Greene is a strategic consultant with expertise in international affairs, immigration, security, and trade, with over a decade of experience working at the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS). In his policy brief, he uses Latin America as a case study, and makes key recommendations for how the region could prepare for and implement the MECR structure to protect cultural heritage.

“While negotiated import controls are excellent in developing positive international relations, and are a needed layer to preventing the illicit flow of cultural property, they can only be fully realized if met by an equally enforced and informative export control,” Greene argues.

Greene recommends that to implement MECRs, Latin American countries appoint necessary representatives, seek out expertise, define restriction lists, designate enforcing authorities, commit to timely implementation, and share accurate information. He also recommends that they encourage other regions to do the same.                                                    

For a summary and link to the policy brief, visit: https://thinktank.theantiquitiescoalition.org/can-the-cultural-property-market-ever-be-a-legitimate-market-with-multilateral-export-control-regimes-it-can/

 

 

About the Antiquities Coalition Think Tank

The Antiquities Coalition unites a diverse group of experts in the international campaign against cultural racketeering, the illicit trade in art and antiquities. This plunder for profit funds crime, conflict, and violent extremist organizations around the world. By championing better law and policy, fostering diplomatic cooperation, and advancing proven solutions with public and private partners worldwide, the Antiquities Coalition empowers communities and countries in crisis to safeguard cultural heritage for future generations. 

Launched in 2016, the Antiquities Coalition Think Tank joins forces with international experts, including leaders in the fields of preservation, business, law, security, and technology, to bring high-quality, results-oriented research to the world’s decision-makers, especially those in the government and private sectors. Policy briefs strive to strengthen policy makers’ understanding of the challenges facing collective human heritage, and to help them develop better solutions to protect it. The views expressed in these policy briefs are the author’s own, and do not necessarily reflect those of the Antiquities Coalition.

Learn more at thinktank.theantiquitiescoalition.org.

Antiquities Coalition Mobilizes to Protect Cultural Heritage From Climate Change by Joining Climate Heritage Network

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The Antiquities Coalition is honored to announce that it has joined the Climate Heritage Network (CHN), which describes itself on its website as “a voluntary, mutual support network of arts, culture and heritage organisations committed to aiding their communities in tackling climate change and achieving the ambitions of the Paris Agreement.”

According to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Paris Agreement is a legally binding international treaty on climate change that was adopted by 196 parties on December 12, 2015. It entered into force on November 4, 2016, with the goal of limiting global warming to “well below 2, preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels.” 

“Climate change is one of the most significant and fastest growing threats to people and their cultural heritage worldwide,” the CHN said in an October 22 press release. “The CHN aims to foreground the cultural dimensions of global climate action and to create a roadmap that will allow every arts, culture and heritage-related organization to do its part.”

The Antiquities Coalition’s membership with the CHN was approved on November 12 and announced on November 16.

Like the CHN, the Antiquities Coalition recognizes that climate change is a top global threat to all aspects of our world, including our shared cultural heritage. Our Think Tank recently tackled this subject in its seventh policy brief, in which conservation and climate change expert Terry Townshend examined the climate change-related risks facing cultural World Heritage Sites and made recommendations for how to assess and mitigate those risks.

We at the Antiquities Coalition look forward to working alongside the CHN to secure a lasting future for our shared cultural heritage.

Financial Crimes Task Force Discuss Gaps in U.S. Policy on the American Art Market at a Recent U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) Staff Briefing

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The Antiquities Coalition’s Financial Crimes Task Force Chairs John Byrne, Dennis Lormel, Michael Loughnane, and Tess Davis, in addition to Project Director Liz Fraccaro, spoke at a U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) Community of Practice Staff Briefing on November 10, 2020. The briefing was presented by an internal community of practice within GAO, which is a learning group aimed at information sharing for those working on matters pertaining to illicit finance. The audience consisted of analysts, methodologists, and general counsel from across GAO mission teams.

The chairs discussed the Antiquities Coalition’s nonpartisan, multi-stakeholder initiative, the Financial Crimes Task Force. The Task Force was convened to develop solutions to protect the art market from criminal misuse, and published its initial findings in a September report, Reframing U.S. Policy on the Art Market: Recommendations for Combating Financial Crimes. The report puts forward 44 concrete recommendations to combat financial crimes in the art market, aimed at the government, art market, financial sector, and international community.

Key takeaways include:

There are Documented Risks Facing the American Art Market: Money laundering, terrorist financing, sanctions violations, tax evasion, fraud, forgery, and related crimes are just some of the risks facing the $28.3 billion American art market. 

The Art Market’s Continuing Exemption from Standard Laws and Regulations is a Threat to National Security and Economic Integrity: Despite its size and value, the American art market is not yet subject to the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), the United States’ primary anti-money laundering (AML) law. The BSA requires high-risk individuals and institutions to assist the U.S. government in detecting and preventing financial crimes. In addition to businesses one would expect, such as banks, the statute also applies to sellers of precious metals, stones, and jewels; sellers of automobiles, planes, and boats; casinos; real estate professionals; travel agencies; and pawn shops. This current art market exemption presents serious risks to our national security and economic integrity, and it is threatening the integrity of the legal art market and legitimate collectors.

The U.S. Government Must Take Action: The EU, UK, and Switzerland have all already taken action and strengthened their AML regimes, paying particular attention to the art market. If the U.S. doesn’t act, it may become more vulnerable and operate as a safe haven for criminals. Adding the AML infrastructure to the art market does more than just help identify and prevent money laundering—it would help with the full scope of financial crimes, such as sanction evasion.

To read the Financial Crimes Task Force Report—which calls for new policies, practices, and priorities for the United States to implement on its own and in conjunction with the private sector and international community—click here.

Financial Crimes Task Force Chairs Discuss Safeguarding National Security and Economic Integrity at Recent Bipartisan House Foreign Affairs Committee Staff Briefing

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The Antiquities Coalition’s Financial Crimes Task Force Chairs John Byrne, Michael Loughnane, Angel Swift, and Tess Davis spoke at a House Foreign Affairs Committee Staff Briefing on November 6, 2020. The chairs discussed the documented risks facing the U.S. art market from money laundering, terrorist financing, sanctions violations, tax evasion, fraud, forgery, and related crimes. Most importantly, they discussed concrete recommendations that Congress can spearhead to fight back.

Key takeaways include:

The American Art Market’s Continuing Exemption from Standard Laws and Regulations Threatens National Security and Gives Bad Actors a Backdoor into the U.S. Economy: In July 2020, a U.S. Senate report exposed how the art market’s continuing exemption from standard laws and regulations had gifted Russian oligarchs Arkady and Boris Rotenberg with an easy backdoor into the world’s biggest economy, evading U.S. sanctions on Vladimir Putin’s inner circle. The report, and many others, refer to the $28.3 billion American art market as the largest unregulated industry in the United States—and, arguably, the world. It is not yet subject to the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), the United States’ primary anti-money laundering (AML) law. The BSA requires high-risk individuals and institutions to assist the U.S. government in detecting and preventing financial crimes. Because AML regulations do not apply to the art market, the Rotenbergs were able to launder at least $18 million through leading New York auction houses and private dealers, and evade the sanctions meant to keep them out of the United States financial system.  The Rotenbergs are just one example among many of the dangers an unregulated art market poses to national security.

Congress Must Take Action: The EU, UK, and Switzerland have all already taken action and applied their AML regimes to the art market. U.S. dealers operating in Europe—which, given the art market’s global nature, are virtually innumerable—need to be thinking about these rules already. Unfortunately, if the U.S. doesn’t act, it may continue to be a safe haven for criminals like the Rotenbergs. Adding the AML infrastructure to the art market does more than just help identify and prevent money laundering—it would help with the full scope of financial crimes, such as sanction evasion. That said, this is just a first step—there is much more that the US government can be doing to work with the private sector to safeguard our national security, economic integrity, and the vast majority of responsible collectors, dealers, auction houses, and museums.

To view AC’s most recent story map on the Senate report, click here.

To read the Financial Crimes Task Force Report—which calls for new policies, practices, and priorities for the United States to implement on its own and in conjunction with the private sector and international community—click here.

Art Market Actors Can Be Held Liable for Facilitating Sanctions Evasion, U.S. Treasury Warns

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The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued an advisory targeting art market actors on October 30, warning them that doing business with individuals on OFAC’s List of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN List)—even unwittingly—may render them civilly liable for facilitating sanctions evasion.

This “Advisory and Guidance on Potential Sanctions Risks Arising from Dealings in High-Value Artwork” noted that the art market features “a lack of transparency and a high degree of anonymity and confidentiality”—often manifesting in the form of shell companies and intermediaries that obscure the identities of buyers and sellers alike. Art itself, the advisory added, is generally mobile, concealable, and subjective in value, making it the ideal pawn for financial criminals.

The OFAC advisory named several examples of criminals previously suspected of using the U.S. art market to evade sanctions, including Russian construction and energy magnates Arkady and Boris Rotenberg—who, according to a 150-page report released by the U.S. Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations in July, laundered no less than $18 million using high-value artwork.

“U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions, directly or indirectly, with persons on the SDN List, other blocked persons, and those covered by comprehensive country or region embargoes,” the OFAC advisory warned, stressing that civil penalties could be imposed on the basis of “strict liability”—that is, regardless of whether or not the art market actor in question knew that the transaction he or she was engaging in was prohibited.

While the Berman Amendment to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and the Trading with the Enemy Act (TWEA) generally exempts the import or export of artwork from regulation, the OFAC advisory clarified that this exemption does not go so far as to free art market actors from the responsibility of ensuring that they are not engaging in a transaction that helps an individual on the SDN List evade sanctions, emphasizing that OFAC “will apply IEEPA- and TWEA-based sanctions to transactions involving artworks in which a blocked person, including a person on the SDN List, has an interest, to the extent the artwork functions primarily as an investment asset or medium of exchange.”

“U.S. persons involved in the high-value artwork trade should be mindful of this sanctions risk, and OFAC strongly cautions that any U.S. person considering a transaction with a blocked person involving high-value artwork should seek guidance or a license from OFAC,” the OFAC advisory concluded.

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists published an article about the OFAC advisory on November 4. In preparing “Secretive high-end art world can be vehicle for dirty money, US Treasury warns,” reporter Spencer Woodman—who previously covered financial crimes in the art world when the FinCEN Files made headlines in September—spoke with Antiquities Coalition Executive Director Tess Davis.

“The advisory serves as another reminder that the $28.3 billion American art market is the largest unregulated industry in the United States,” Davis told ICIJ in an email.

That being said, as Woodman observed, the OFAC advisory “does not carry the force of law” — a fact that has led Davis to emphasize that “more action is needed.”

“If the US doesn’t act, we do risk our jurisdiction continuing to be a safe haven for criminals,” Davis said.

In order to encourage the United States to take decisive action against financial crimes in the U.S. art market, the Antiquities Coalition’s nonpartisan think tank convened the Financial Crimes Task Force. This diverse group of experts worked to create 44 recommendations for the U.S. government, the U.S. financial industry, the U.S. art and antiquities sector and the international community. The policies, practices and priorities it released on September 24—including a call for Congress to explicitly apply the BSA to dealers in cultural property—can be implemented to protect the American art market from money laundering, terrorist financing, sanctions violations, tax evasion, fraud, forgery, and related crimes.

For more information about the Financial Crimes Task Force and its recent report, click here.

Ten Most Wanted Antiquities List Featured by The Art Newspaper

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The Antiquities Coalition’s Ten Most Wanted Antiquities list—our brand new “illustrated guide to some of the most significant looted, stolen, and missing artifacts from around the world”—was featured in an article published by The Art Newspaper on October 29.

TAN Editor Helen Stoilas interviewed Antiquities Coalition Chairman and Co-founder Deborah Lehr about the motivations behind the campaign.

“It was important, we believe, to highlight that there are still countless missing masterpieces in the world,” Antiquities Coalition Chairman and Co-founder Deborah Lehr told Stoilas. “Given the impact of social media, we wanted to reach out to the general public to raise awareness about these missing antiquities and enlist their support in finding them.”

The Antiquities Coalition consulted with leading experts to select the most “infamous cases of cultural racketeering,” Lehr said. “Based on the feedback, we chose to use high-profile missing items from different parts of the world to illustrate how this is a global issue that requires a global and widespread response.”

Among the cultural objects listed is an alabaster stone inscription, ripped from the floor of the Awam Temple between 2009 and 2011.

“Yemeni antiquities remain under critical threat due to the ongoing civil war and humanitarian crisis,” Lehr said, referring to a report the Antiquities Coalition and Yemen released in March 2019, which showed that “more than 1,600 objects were missing just from the country’s museums due to looting.”

Lehr also referenced Yemen’s September 2019 requests for emergency import restrictions and a full memorandum of understanding. The former request was granted this February. As for the latter, Lehr said, “a full bilateral MOU is still a work in progress, and is much needed.”

An MOU is especially warranted in the chaotic era of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has sparked a rise in looting and other illicit activities, as the Antiquities Coalition reported in May and August.

“Looters are taking advantage of the pandemic to pillage ancient artefacts from archaeological ruins, while art thieves target masterpieces in metropolitan museums,” Lehr said. “While the coronavirus has largely shuttered above-board dealers, galleries and auction houses, the international black market stays wide open for business.”

Many of these works have been missing for a number of years—but, according to Lehr, “there is always hope” that they will be recovered, as “access to technology may bring up new leads.”

“Social media allows us to reach out to the general public, who have shown great interest in this topic, and enlist their support to recover these missing treasures,” Lehr said.For more information about the Ten Most Wanted Antiquities list, including how you can help us locate missing cultural objects, click here.

Latest AC Story Map Seeks Some of the World’s Most Significant Looted or Stolen Artifacts

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Countless antiquities have been looted or stolen over the course of history. More disappear into the black market every day. And each and every one represents an incalculable loss to our shared cultural heritage.

We at the Antiquities Coalition have chronicled some of the most infamous cases of cultural artifacts that have vanished without a trace in our October 29 story map release, Top Ten Most Wanted Antiquities: Significant Artifacts From Around the World That Have Been Looted or Stolen—and Are Still Missing.

For some of these masterpieces, it has been less than 15 years since their disappearance—and for others, more than 150—but, with your help, we hope to one day return all of them to their rightful homes.

For more information about AC’s Top Ten Most Wanted Antiquities, click here.