The Pandora Papers: AC Quoted in ICIJ’s Expose
October 13, 2021
On October 3, 2021, The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) published a groundbreaking investigation of millions of leaked documents that revealed stunning financial secrets and offshore dealings of world leaders, politicians, and billionaires from around the globe, better known as the Pandora Papers.
One of the actors targeted in the expose is Douglas Latchford, the notorious antiquities trafficker indicted in 2019 for dealing in stolen art and artifacts. This investigation uncovers how Latchford and his family set up trusts in tax havens shortly after he was linked to looted antiquities, and used trusts and offshore accounts to store antiquities.
The ICIJ’s expose is a must-read, deeply reported investigation that destroys so much of the false narrative that glorifies Douglas Latchford and the antiquities trade. The journalists reached out to Tess Davis, the Antiquities Coalition’s Executive Director, for comments and insight on how the illicit trade has been influenced and maintained by cultural racketeers like Douglas Latchford.
“Accusations against Latchford … have been a matter of legal record for nearly 10 years now,” said Tess Davis, a lawyer, archaeologist and the executive director of the Antiquities Coalition, an organization that campaigns against the trafficking of cultural artifacts. “Museum leaders have had more than enough time to do the right thing. Instead, there is deafening silence.”
The investigative journalists behind this expose also drew insight from Davis and a colleague, Angela Chiu, who is a scholar of Asian art. Her interview with the Antiquities Coalition on the impact of the Pandora Papers on the art and antiquities trade can be found here. Follow here to read more on the Pandora Papers as news comes out.