TOPLINE
Michael Steinhardt, a hedge fund billionaire and one of the world’s largest ancient art collectors, agreed to an “unprecedented” lifetime ban from collecting antiquities and surrendered 180 pieces of stolen artwork worth $70 million following a multi-year investigation that spanned multiple countries, the Manhattan’s District Attorney’s Office said on Monday.
KEY FACTS
District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. said in a press release his office began investigating Steinhardt’s role in the acquisition, possession and sale of more than 1,000 antiquities in 2017, and found compelling evidence that 180 pieces were stolen from their country of origin.
The 180 antiquities that were deemed to be stolen will be returned to their rightful owners in 11 different countries, and Steinhardt agreed to a “first-of-its-kind” lifetime ban from acquiring more antiquities, according to the district attorney’s office.
Vance said Steinhardt’s pursuit of obtaining new pieces of art “knew no geographic or moral boundaries,” which he said was reflected in the “crime bosses, money launderers and tomb raiders” Steinhardt relied upon to expand his collection.
Andrew J. Levander and Theodore V. Wells Jr., Steinhardt’s attorneys, said in a statement to Forbes that Steinhardt was pleased the investigation “concluded without any charges, and that items wrongfully taken by others will be returned to their native countries.”
Steinhardt and the District Attorney’s office reached an agreement that will end the grand jury investigation, meaning Steinhardt will not be criminally prosecuted in the case.
Vance said the agreement will avoid a trial so that the pieces could be returned “expeditiously” to their owners, rather than be held as evidence for years, and to avoid “over-burdening resource-scarce” nations who would have been called as witnesses to the trial.
KEY BACKGROUND
The criminal probe into Steinhardt’s collection began in 2017, when the district attorney’s office determined that he bought a multi-million dollar statue of a bull’s head, which had been stolen during the Lebanese Civil War, and loaned it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Months later, the district attorney’s office formed the Antiquities Trafficking Unit, and returned the bull’s head, along with a second statue, to Lebanon at the end of 2017. The district attorney’s office continued investigating Steinhardt’s collection of antiquities—at one point investigators raided his home and office—and conducted joint investigations with authorities in Bulgaria, Egypt, Greece, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Syria and Turkey. Of the 180 pieces seized by the district attorney’s office, 171 were determined to have been in the possession of antiquities traffickers, who acquired them following civil unrest or looting, according to the district attorney’s office.
CRUCIAL QUOTE
“Steinhardt viewed these precious artifacts as simple commodities — things to collect and own. He failed to respect that these treasures represent the heritage of cultures around the world from which these items were looted, often during times of strife and unrest,” Ricky J. Patel, New York acting special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations, said in a press release.
BIG NUMBER
$1.2 billion. That’s how much Steinhardt’s net worth is, as of Monday, according to Forbes’ billionaire tracker.
FURTHER READING
D.A. Vance: Michael Steinhardt Surrenders 180 Stolen Antiquities Valued at $70 Million