Author: Helena Arose

Antiquities Coalition Celebrates the Return of Looted Cambodian Masterpieces

Posted on by Helena Arose

Repatriated Collection Includes One of the World’s “Ten Most Wanted Antiquities”

NEW YORK, (August 8, 2022) – Today, the United States government repatriated thirty cultural treasures worth tens of millions of dollars to the Kingdom of Cambodia, including a monumental sandstone sculpture of Ganesha, the elephant-headed Hindu god. The return of the Ganesha to its rightful home in Cambodia marks the first success of the “Ten Most Wanted Antiquities,” the Antiquities Coalition’s 2020 awareness campaign to locate and recover some of the world’s most significant looted, stolen, and missing artifacts.

All 30 pieces had been sold to American collectors by Douglas Latchford—the now disgraced “adventurer scholar,” who made headlines in last year’s Pandora Papers for smuggling blood antiquities from Cambodian war zones and then hiding his millions of dollars in profits through the misuse of tax havens, trusts, and offshore accounts. The pieces were seized as part of a decade-long, and still ongoing, investigation into Latchford’s network by Homeland Security Investigations and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.

The Ganesha was recovered from the collection of Netscape founder James H. Clark, who surrendered a total of 35 antiquities after learning from investigators that all of the pieces were stolen. In an interview with the New York Times, Clark detailed his business relationship with Latchford and why he felt obligated to return the stolen items voluntarily, saying, “my doing this might inspire other people to do the same, but I’m not sure — it’s hard for people to give up something they paid for, but for me, why would you want to own something that was stolen?”

Both the Ganesha and another of the masterpieces returned, the Skanda on a Peacock, hailed from Koh Ker, the capital of the ancient Khmer Empire from 928 to 944 C.E. Ancient Koh Ker statuary was revolutionary for its time given the size, dynamic positions, unique decorative features, and sacred ancestral representation of the art pieces. 

“We launched the Ten Most Wanted Antiquities list to shine a spotlight on cultural treasures from around the world that have been lost to crime and war,” said Deborah Lehr, chairman and founder of the Antiquities Coalition. “We’re thrilled that the Ganesha, as well as the Skanda on a Peacock and so many other pieces, are now being returned home to the people of Cambodia. This success demonstrates what wonderful things we can accomplish when governments, law enforcement, advocates, and responsible leaders in the art market work together.”

While the first of the original “Top Ten Most Wanted Antiquities” has been recovered, nine remain missing, along with countless other objects stolen from their home by thieves capitalizing on the chaos of war, unrest, or other crisis. These crimes leave a wound that persists for decades or even centuries. In recognition of the work that remains to combat cultural racketeering, the Antiquities Coalition will soon launch an updated most wanted list featuring a new missing masterpiece from Cambodia.

View the nine missing pieces and  learn more about the Top Ten here.

Live Webinar: The Need for Proactive Policy

Posted on by Helena Arose

Join us August 15 at 10:00 AM New York / 3:00 PM London / 7:30 PM Chennai for this Free Webinar

As the Russia-Ukraine War rages on, culture in Ukraine remains under attack.  

From recent conflicts in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, and now, Ukraine, the international community has seen the catastrophic impact of war on cultural heritage. But conflict is not the only threat. Looting and illicit trade feed upon any weakening of civil society caused by globalization, natural disasters, climate change, and pandemics. In such situations, the international community scrambles to implement protective emergency actions – usually too late. What is worse, resources deployed in one emergency rarely prevent theft and illicit trade in future emergencies elsewhere, whatever and wherever they might be.

On August 15, the Antiquities Coalition will convene top experts from academia, civil society, and the law to make recommendations for how international public and legal policy should take a proactive stance aimed at eradicating threats to cultural heritage globally. The discussion will feature takeaways from the Antiquities Coalition’s roadmap for the G20, Safeguarding Cultural Heritage in Conflict Zones, as an example of how leaders can strengthen global efforts against the looting and trafficking of cultural objects.

As evidenced by the situation in Ukraine, our current policy framework is failing—failing our cultural heritage, failing the communities and countries with the closest ties, failing their governments, failing law enforcement, and failing the legitimate art market. Such a stark assessment is daunting, and demands rigorous investigation and discussion. The Antiquities Coalition looks forward to your participation in this important conversation. 

Moderated by Dr. James K. Reap. 

AC’s Tess Davis Describes Douglas Latchford’s Crimes in Bloomberg Businessweek

Posted on by Helena Arose

Bad actors continue to exploit the global art market, putting our shared history and security at risk. For more than 40 years, Douglas Latchford was the world’s foremost dealer of Cambodian antiquities. Latchford spent decades trafficking the country’s art and antiquities, even allowing some objects to end up in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met) in New York. 

The Antiquities Coalition is holding Latchford and the broader network that supported his crimes accountable through years of independent research and outside collaborations. In 2021, the Antiquities Coalition worked extensively alongside the Pandora Papers investigation in exposing Latchford on a global scale.

Tess Davis, Executive Director of the Antiquities Coalition, was mentioned in a recent Bloomberg article that explores Latchford’s crimes and the unique position that made him more culpable.

Davis has also detailed Latchford’s dark legacy and his lifelong tactics to pillage Cambodia during decades of civil war, foreign occupation, and genocide in an OpEd for The Diplomat. The Antiquities Coalition continues to call on the art world to return stolen items and urges museums like the Met to implement stronger protections against cultural racketeering.

Read the full article here.

Research from AC’s Tess Davis and Trafficking Culture Quoted in ABC Australia

Posted on by Helena Arose

Looted antiquities are usually traced back to a smuggling network that reaches all corners of the global art market. In a research paper, Simon Mackenzie of Trafficking Culture and Tess Davis, Executive Director of the Antiquities Coalition, explore the anatomy of a trafficking network and identify the lynch-pin as a “Janus,” the Roman god who wears two faces:

“He is Janus — one face looking into the illicit past of an artefact and one looking into its public future where that dark past is concealed — the point of transition, or gateway between local looting and the international art market.”

Mackenzie and Davis’ research was quoted by Mario Christodoulou, an investigative journalist for ABC Australia, who detailed the secret history of Australia’s Khmer antiquities. Christodoulou writes that Peng Seng sold ancient Thai and Khmer sculptures, but Seng’s “Janus” is Douglas Latchford, who is widely known for trafficking antiquities during the Cambodian civil war.

Read the full article here.

New UNESCO and DCT Report Details COVID-19 Recovery for the Culture Sector

Posted on by Helena Arose

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a significant loss of life, devastating economic impacts, and major disruptions to livelihood. Cultural heritage and our shared history are no exception, with reports of cultural racketeering skyrocketing across the globe over the last few years.

In 2020, the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) warned that this public health emergency would result in a “glut of stolen artifacts” for sale online. Among the extensive list of nations impacted by this illegal trade, Egyptian officials reported that illegal excavations in the country had more than doubled since the outbreak of COVID-19.

New research shows the culture sector experienced a significant decline during the pandemic, with a loss of global revenue from 20 to 40 percent and approximately 10 million jobs lost in 2020 alone. Without individuals to protect and preserve art and antiquities in museums and other sites, cultural heritage faces a greater risk of being looted by bad actors who seek to exploit the global art market.

In response to the growing need for structural change, UNESCO and the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT) released a new report, Culture in Times of COVID-19: Resilience, Recovery and Revival, to explore key trends and transformations that can boost coordinated multilateral recovery of the culture sector.

Executive Director of the Antiquities Coalition, Tess Davis, and Project Director, Helena Arose, were honored to attend the launch of the report in Abu Dhabi alongside UNESCO and DCT to discuss the key findings and the unique opportunity for lasting change.

The Antiquities Coalition has monitored the pandemic’s impact on cultural racketeering and historical sites that have suffered from looting and will continue to support research and recovery efforts that aim to build an inclusive, sustainable, and resilient culture sector for years to come.

Think Tank Emphasizes Cultural Heritage Has Become One of Russia’s Most Effective Weapons

Posted on by Helena Arose

In the latest policy brief from the AC Think Tank, How Does Russia Exploit History and Cultural Heritage for Information Warfare? Recommendations for NATO, authors Daniel Shultz and Christopher Jasparro provide a detailed case study illustrating how historical propaganda and the exploitation of cultural heritage have become a central component of the Kremlin’s information warfare campaigns, orchestrated from the top by Vladimir Putin himself. To combat this threat, they offer recommendations for NATO to raise institutional awareness of this threat in order to promote resilience, effective counters, and a more accurate understanding of adversary intent and vulnerabilities in the information environment.

Since the publication of the brief, news from Ukraine on this topic has been disturbing. On June 12, international experts reported that a specialist gang was committing targeted theft of cultural objects from Ukraine and smuggling them into Russia. “There is a possibility it is all part of undermining the identity of Ukraine as a separate country by implying legitimate Russian ownership of all their exhibits,” said Brian Daniels, an anthropologist and research associate at the Smithsonian Institution.

In light of this and other reports, the AC was pleased to convene top military and heritage experts this month to hear directly from Shultz and Jasparro on their recommendations as well as key insights from recent developments. This presentation was followed by a moderated discussion on counter-messaging, awareness-raising, and institutionalized training to combat Russian aggression. Due to the sensitivity of the subject, this briefing was closed-door, with invitees composed of representatives from government, the military, law enforcement, intergovernmental organizations, nongovernmental organizations, and academia. This event is just one example of how the AC Think Tank is working to bring high-quality, innovative, and results-oriented research directly to decision makers.

For a summary and link to the policy brief, visit: https://thinktank.theantiquitiescoalition.org/how-does-russia-exploit-history-and-cultural-heritage-for-information-warfare-recommendations-for-nato/

The AC Joins Mediterranean Leaders in Signing Naples Declaration

Posted on by Helena Arose

Communiqué Calls for Stronger Cultural Heritage Protection Throughout the Region

On June 16-17, the Conference of the Ministers of Culture of the Mediterranean brought together governments with European, intergovernmental, and non-governmental organizations in Italy. This first cultural ministerial of the EU-Southern partnership—a coalition between the European Union, and its neighbors on the Mediterranean—concluded with leaders signing the Naples Declaration. The Antiquities Coalition was honored to be one of the few non-governmental delegations, and the only one from the United States, invited to sign the communique and speak at the broader event.

The Naples Declaration seeks to protect cultural heritage from disasters and other crisis scenarios, while highlighting how culture drives and enables sustainable development. It reinforces several previous commitments to safeguarding cultural heritage, including the G20’s 2021 Rome Declaration. Specifically, it urges nations to:

Strengthen measures to combat illicit trafficking in cultural goods through a multifaceted / intersectoral approach that takes into account its criminal, financial and social dimensions. To this end, explore measures to improve the legal frameworks for strengthening the fight against illicit trafficking of cultural goods, in particular their repatriation or return to their countries of origin, and explore measures for strengthening cooperation among police, customs, and authorities cross-border cultural administration.

Executive Director of the Antiquities Coalition, Tess Davis, emphasized how Mediterranean leaders can prioritize the protection of cultural heritage as part of her remarks during the event. While this ministerial and Naples Declaration send a strong message to bad actors in the art market, leaders throughout the Mediterranean region must take continuous action to ensure we effectively combat the illegal trade of cultural racketeering. 

The Antiquities Coalition looks forward to seeing how the Naples Declaration will strengthen cultural heritage protection throughout the Mediterranean and inspire other regions to combat cultural racketeering.

 

AC Chairman and Founder Details How China Combats Cultural Racketeering for China Pictorial

Posted on by Helena Arose

In 2021, the Chinese art market was valued at $13.4 billion, making it 20 percent of the global total, second only to the United States. But as interest in Chinese cultural heritage continues to grow, so does the risk that bad actors will attempt to exploit it.

In a recent article for China Pictorial, Deborah Lehr, Chairman and Founder of the Antiquities Coalition, details how the Chinese government is taking serious measures to crack down on the illegal trade of art and antiquities:

“For one, China has strengthened its laws, both nationally and locally. By the end of 2016, there were 154 local laws, 138 local government statutes, and more than 13,000 local regulatory documents related to cultural work across the country,” Lehr says. 

Lehr also outlines China’s strict approach to enforcement, highlighting the country’s 2021 crackdown that caught 650 gangs and resulted in the arrests of 61 most-wanted suspects of cultural relic theft.

Countries must work internationally and coordinate efforts with other governments to fight against antiquities trafficking. China is an example of how countries can develop laws, implement cultural heritage protection into urbanization planning, and engage internationally to ensure we can celebrate our shared history and preserve it for future generations.

Read the full article here.

The Antiquities Coalition Applauds House Committee for Protecting Multi-Billion Dollar American Art Market from Criminals

Posted on by Helena Arose

Enablers Act Paves the Way to Apply Anti-Money Laundering Laws to Art Dealers Following the Pandora Papers Exposé

WASHINGTON, DC (June 28, 2022) – The Antiquities Coalition commends the House of Representatives for taking an important step to close loopholes that have made the $28 billion American art market the largest unregulated market in the world.

On June 22, 2022, the House Armed Services Committee voted to include the Enablers Act in the National Defense Authorization Act, an annual congressional bill that establishes national security policies and spending. The Enablers Act amends the 52-year-old Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), the country’s primary law on anti-money laundering (AML), by expanding the list of high risk professions and industries who must assist the U.S. government in preventing and detecting financial crimes. Specifically, it adds “persons who trade in works of art, antiques, or collectibles.” 

Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.) and Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) championed the Enablers Act following the Pandora Papers investigation, which exposed the hidden assets, tax avoidance, and financial crimes of some of the world’s richest and most powerful people. These included prominent figures in the art world like Douglas Latchford, who for decades trafficked “blood antiquities” from Cambodia’s Killing Fields into leading museums, and then hid his millions of dollars in profits through the misuse of offshore accounts, tax havens, and trusts. The Antiquities Coalition worked extensively with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) to support Latchford’s unmasking, in one of the many steps the organization is taking to emphasize that cultural racketeering is not a victimless crime. 

“The Antiquities Coalition appreciates that the House Armed Services Committee is taking this step to protect the American art market and our economic integrity from criminal misuse,” said Deborah Lehr, Founder and Chairman of the Antiquities Coalition. “Increased transparency is in everyone’s interest–and especially that of responsible dealers, galleries, and auction houses. Recent scandals, law enforcement investigations, and prosecutions have rightfully eroded trust in this multi-billion dollar industry. The Enablers Act is an opportunity for legitimate businesses to grow and remain competitive internationally, where similar protections have already been implemented.”

The Antiquities Coalition’s Financial Crimes Task Force published a comprehensive report in 2020 that detailed how the American art market is dangerously susceptible to money laundering, terrorist financing, sanctions violations, and related crimes. Reframing U.S. Policy on the Art Market: Recommendations for Combating Financial Crimes also provided 44 solutions to address these challenges—the foremost of which was adding dealers in cultural property to the BSA. While what this requires in practice varies, and even if the NDAA is passed would be determined at a later date, the BSA has generally sought to reinforce good business practices like customer due diligence, record keeping, and reporting suspicious activity to the relevant authorities. In addition to expected businesses like banks, the statute already applies to sellers of precious metals, stones, jewels, automobiles, planes, and boats, as well as to casinos, real estate professionals, travel agencies, and pawn shops. Antiquities dealers were added by the NDAA of 2021.

The Antiquities Coalition appreciates that the House Armed Services Committee and the broader House of Representatives are working to address the troubling connection between cultural racketeering and financial crimes like money laundering and terrorist financing. To learn more about the Enablers Act, click here.

First Cultural Ministerial Meeting of the EU-Southern Partnership Tackles the Illicit Antiquities Trade

Posted on by Helena Arose

AC Joins Mediterranean Ministers of Culture In Calling for Strong and Urgent Regional Action 

The Mediterranean is home to a wealth of cultural heritage, and leaders from its governments must work together to protect this history from those who would seek to exploit it. 

AC Executive Director Tess Davis Presents at the Session Plenary

Executive Director of the Antiquities Coalition, Tess Davis, emphasized this message during the Conference of the Ministers of Culture of the Mediterranean on June 16 and 17, 2022.

Hosted by the Italian Ministries of Culture and Foreign Affairs, this two-day event in Naples, Italy, marked the first cultural ministerial of the EU-Southern partnership, the coalition between the European Union and its neighbors on the Mediterranean. Ministers of Culture from France, Albania, Algeria, Cyprus, Egypt, Greece, Jordan, Morocco, Lebanon, Spain, and more spoke alongside relevant European, intergovernmental, and non-governmental organizations. The Antiquities Coalition was honored to be one of the few non-governmental delegations invited to join and the only one from the United States.

The event uncovered how Mediterranean governments can collaborate to advance cultural diplomacy and protect heritage as a common good of the region, building off Italy’s successes during its 2021 G20 Presidency.

To protect Mediterranean cultural heritage, Davis proposed three recommendations for global leaders in attendance:

  1. Continue to link peace and security: Cultural racketeering is not a failure of preservation, but of governance, law, diplomacy, civil society, and markets. It can only be solved by strengthening law enforcement, international cooperation, and market integrity.

  2. Strengthen the legal framework: The 1970 UNESCO Convention was a watershed, but its drafters could not have envisioned the internet, instantaneous money transfers, or global direct shipping. Better use of the Convention against Transnational Organized Crime could fill gaps left by the 1970 Convention, complementing UNESCO’s critical work. Governments must take better advantage of existing laws combatting fraud, money laundering, sanctions evasion, and terrorist financing—crimes that often go hand in hand with trafficking.

  3. Commit to continuing action: This ministerial sends a strong signal that the Mediterranean is building the political will to safeguard our shared heritage. Making this an annual convening would sustain this momentum and hold participating governments accountable to each other and the global communities while providing them with the incentive and support they need to succeed.

At the close of the event, participating delegations, including the Antiquities Coalition, signed the Naples Declaration, reinforcing several previous commitments to safeguarding cultural heritage, including the G20’s 2021 Rome Declaration. 

The Naples Declaration calls on stakeholders to develop a region-specific strategy for stable and lasting cultural cooperation, better integrate culture in foreign, development, and climate change policies, the promotion of joint initiatives, and much more.

The Antiquities Coalition supports the Naples Declaration and looks forward to continuing collaboration with Ministers of Culture in the Mediterranean region to combat the illegal trade of cultural heritage.

To watch Davis’s remarks, visit here.

AC’s Efforts to Combat Looting in Egypt Cited in The National News

Posted on by Helena Arose

As the fight against cultural looting persists, developing stronger policy and legislation is one of the Antiquities Coalition’s top priorities. In 2016, the Antiquities Coalition encouraged an agreement between the U.S. and Egypt to protect Egypt’s cultural heritage from trafficking. The agreement was renewed for another five years in December 2021.

In a recent article with The National News, Chairman and Founder of the Antiquities Coalition, Deborah Lehr, highlighted the significance of this agreement:

“When you have the [agreement], it switches the burden of proof. Egypt doesn’t have to prove that the items were looted. The importer has to prove that it’s legitimate,” Lehr says.

This article shines a light on the severity of antiquity looting in countries including Egypt, Yemen, and Iraq, and how these nations are working to return their stolen heritage. It is critical that the narrative around the illicit trade of art and antiquities continues to shift toward a global understanding that looting is a crime with extreme consequences for our shared history, human rights, and global security.

Read the full article here.

The Premiere of Turathi: A New Heritage Platform to Combat Looting in Algeria

Posted on by Helena Arose

In Algeria, the AC Holds Event to Launch New Photo Guide to Preserve Algerian Cultural Heritage

The Antiquities Coalition was honored to join the Algerian Ministry of Culture and Arts and the U.S. Embassy in Algiers on May 9, 2022, for the official launch of Turathi, a photographic guide to help identify Algeria’s stolen cultural heritage. The Antiquities Coalition and the Algerian Ministry of Culture developed Turathi as part of their ongoing partnership to preserve and protect the country’s cultural heritage, sponsored by the U.S. Embassy in Algiers.

The Photo guide and the database are a work tool, intended primarily for the use of local customs officers, law enforcement, and international partners involved in the fight against illicit trafficking of cultural property, as an initial step that allows them to identify cultural goods, through a preliminary comparison between their finds and similar artifacts. However, this guide is available to everyone with the aim of engaging and empowering the civil society for the protection of Algeria’s cultural heritage.

Peter Herdrich, Co-Founder of the Antiquities Coalition and Director of the Digitization and Cultural Heritage Preservation Project, spoke at the event to discuss the necessity of collaboration in cultural heritage preservation. 

Herdrich was joined by Soraya Mouloudji, the Algerian Minister of Culture, and Elizabeth Moore Aubin, the U.S. Ambassador to Algeria, who also gave remarks emphasizing how this tool will support the protection and preservation of Algerian cultural heritage. AC in-country Project Manager Abir Chorfa also delivered a speech on the success of the project and next steps.

With over 35,000 stolen objects reported in Algeria, the need for good solutions to fight against cultural racketeering has never been more acute. The Antiquities Coalition remains committed to using tactics like digitization and tools like the photo guide to protect our shared history and global security: although the fight to combat the illegal trade of art and antiquities requires participation from a variety of disciplines.

Governments, law enforcement, cultural experts, libraries, conservators, businesspeople, and more must work together to uncover solutions to safeguard cultural heritage across the world. 

As Deborah Lehr, Founder of the Antiquities Coalition, emphasized during her remarks, “Please have a look at the printed Guide and the website. Get to know these items. And please tell others about them, both professionals and members of the public. The more people know about the importance of protecting the heritage of Algeria and how critical that is, the broader our coalition is.”

The Antiquities Coalition looks forward to its continued collaboration with the Ministry of Culture and Arts and the U.S. Embassy in Algiers and how this resource will assist in its mission to fight the illicit trafficking of Algeria’s cultural heritage.