North American Collector Charged: Update

© ICE

There needs to be some clarification over the charge of the North American collector of Egyptian antiquities.  The New York Daily News (John Marzulli, "Feds bust group trying to smuggle Ancient Egyptian mummy coffins", July 14, 2011) states the following:

Between October 2008 and November 2009, Khouli allegedly sold a Greco-Roman sarcophagus, Egyptian funerary boats and limestone figures to collector Joseph Lewis, 54, of Chesterfield, Va.

Agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement seized the items during a search of Lewis' house on July 13.

A collector of the same name, and apparently aged 52 in 2008, is reported to have made loans and donations of Egyptian antiquities to two major museums. This could herald serious implications for the two institutions. (I have emailed the press officer at the university collection to obtain further information.)