In the News: ICIJ Highlights the Case for Proactive Museum Repatriation
August 24, 2026
Returning looted cultural heritage can advance justice, strengthen international partnerships, and help build a more ethical global museum network.
The Antiquities Coalition was recently featured by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) in a new investigation examining a persistent problem in American museums: the slow pace of acknowledging and investigating objects with suspicious or incomplete provenances.
The ICIJ feature challenges museums to ask fundamental questions about the objects in their collections: Where did these objects come from? How did they get here? Who do they belong to?
Many museums have taken important steps by partnering with law enforcement to identify and return objects known to have been trafficked through criminal networks, including those operated by notorious traffickers Subhash Kapoor and Douglas Latchford. Yet objects connected to these same networks remain in major American collections.
In March 2023, ICIJ and Finance Uncovered revealed that the Metropolitan Museum of Art held more than 1,100 objects previously owned by collectors who had been indicted or convicted of antiquities crimes. More recently, following the seizure of additional objects from its collection, the Met has surrendered an estimated $95 million worth of looted antiquities.
The scale of these cases points to an important reality: changing the art market may be costly, but maintaining the status quo comes at a far higher price. As Antiquities Coalition Executive Director Tess Davis told ICIJ:
“The museum appears to be waiting for a US prosecutor or foreign government to come knocking, with proof beyond a reasonable doubt. The question should not be whether the highest legal burden has been met, but whether these objects belong in one of the world’s greatest museums.”
Museums have the expertise and influence to lead the way toward a more ethical art market. Rigorous provenance research, transparency, and proactive collaboration with law enforcement and source countries can strengthen public trust while protecting our shared cultural heritage.
This is also a matter of justice. The removal of cultural objects from communities around the world—often during periods of conflict, political upheaval, and trauma—has lasting consequences. Returning these objects can restore justice, signal good faith, and create new opportunities for international cultural exchange.
Repatriation does not mean removing cultural heritage from the American public. It can open the door to a fairer, more transparent global museum network in which institutions can share collections through legitimate loans and partnerships. The institutions that embrace accountability today will help define the ethical standards of tomorrow. Museums should not wait for prosecutors or foreign governments to force action. They can—and should—take the initiative to understand the histories of the objects they steward and address credible evidence of wrongdoing.
Read the full ICIJ feature, here.