Billionaire Michael Steinhardt Gives $70 Million in Stolen


The Manhattan district attorney’s office said on Monday that Michael H. Steinhardt, billionaire hedge fund pioneer and one of New York’s most prolific antique collectors, handed over 180 stolen objects worth $70 million and was banned for life from acquiring any other relics. .

The prosecution struck a deal with Mr Steinhardt after a four-year multinational investigation that determined that the seized pieces were looted and smuggled from 11 countries, smuggled by 12 illegal networks, and appeared on the international art market without legal paperwork. said.

District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., “For decades, Michael Steinhardt has displayed a greedy appetite for looted artifacts, regardless of the legality of his actions, the legitimacy of the pieces he buys and sells, or the grave cultural damage it inflicts worldwide.” He added: “This agreement establishes that Steinhardt will be subject to an unprecedented lifetime ban on acquiring antiques.”

Born in Brooklyn, who turns 81 on Tuesday, Mr. Steinhardt is a major contributor to New York University and numerous Jewish charities. There is a Steinhardt conservatory in the Brooklyn Botanical Garden and a Steinhardt Gallery in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

In a statement Monday, his attorney, Andrew J. Levander, said: “Mr. Steinhardt is pleased that the District Attorney’s years-long investigation has resulted in no charges and that items wrongfully taken by others have been returned to their home countries. Many of the dealers from which Mr. Steinhardt purchased these products made specific statements about the dealers’ legal ownership of the products and their alleged origin. To the extent that these statements are false, Mr. Steinhardt reserves the right to seek compensation from the vendors concerned.”

According to prosecutors, 171 of the 180 antiquities seized were originally found in the possession of accused antiquities smugglers, including two people convicted in Italy – Giacomo Medici and Giovanni Becchina. They said the investigation revealed that 101 pieces, all covered with dirt and crusts, were visible and identifiable in photographs found in the hands of known traders.

Christos Tsirogiannis, an associate professor at the Institute for Advanced Studies at Aarhus University in Denmark and expert in researching archives of photographs seized from antique dealers, said smugglers use such photos to promote their looted goods to small groups of wealthy collectors. Dr. Tsirogiannis is one of about 60 investigators, investigators and foreign law enforcement officials assigned by the prosecution to assist the case.

Mr. Vance’s office said as part of its investigation, prosecutors have issued 17 search warrants and are working with authorities in 11 countries – Bulgaria, Egypt, Greece, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Syria and Turkey.

In announcing the agreement not to prosecute as long as Mr. Steinhardt complies with all of his terms, Mr. Vance said the arrangement would allow for the “rapid return of the items to their rightful owners” rather than keeping them as evidence. It will also help his office “conceal the identities of many witnesses here and abroad whose names will be released in any case.”

However, the lawsuit and other recent seizures show that the office’s Antiquities Trade Unit is prepared to go far into the past to confiscate objects based on a New York state law that allows prosecutors to return stolen goods to “rightful owners” whenever they can. It may have been theft.

Mr. Steinhardt’s relationship with prosecutors on questionable antiquities dates back to the 1990s. in 1997, federal judge ruled He said Mr Steinhardt had illegally imported a golden bowl known as a phiale from Italy in 1992. The object, dating to 450 BC and costing $1 million, was recovered from Mr. Steinhardt’s home in 1995. The judge denied his claim. when it’s an “innocent owner” with no knowledge of irregularities.

inspectors in 2018 raided his office and they took Fifth Avenue home and several ancient artifacts that they said had been looted from Greece and Italy. This seizure followed the 2017 seizure of a marble statue stolen from a temple in Sidon, Lebanon, left and returned by Mr. Steinhardt.

The 2017 seizure led to the establishment of the human trafficking unit, which busted the case, which was settled on Monday. Officials said the unit recovered more than 3,000 pieces worth $200 million, and at least 1,500 were returned to their owners and countries of origin. He said hundreds of people are ready to be repatriated “as soon as the countries concerned recognize them in the midst of the pandemic” and that more than 1,000 objects are being held pending the outcome of criminal prosecution.

(Moreover, in March 2019 Mr Steinhardt was charged. a model of sexual harassment by several women who work for the nonprofit organizations they support.)

The confiscated items that adorned Mr Steinhardt’s homes and offices and which he frequently lent to major museums came mostly from Italy, Greece and Israel, according to a list compiled by investigators.



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