Hobby Lobby and the Cylinder Seals

In a letter of 17 January 2018, an attorney for the US Department of Justice has indicated that "Hobby Lobby" has handed over additional cuneiform tablets.

As stated in the enclosed Stipulation, and pursuant to the July 20, 2017 Stipulation of Settlement, Hobby Lobby has delivered to the United States an additional 245 cylinder seals which comprise part of the December 2010 order and consents to their forfeiture. Upon the Court so-ordering the Stipulation, the United States will commence publication of notice of forfeiture on the grounds that the 245 cylinder seals constitute merchandise that was introduced or attempted to be introduced into the United States contrary to law, and are therefore subject to seizure and forfeiture to the United States, in accordance with 19 U.S.C. § 1595a(c)(1)(A), as alleged in the Verified Complaint in Rem. Accordingly, the United States respectfully requests that the Court so-order the enclosed Stipulation.

This case is in addition to the material seized in July 2017.

The material forms part of an order dating back to December 2010 (see documentation from ARCA; see also discussion by Roberta Mazza). The material seems to have passed through UAE.

Hobby Lobby should now disclose the sources for its purchases along with the authenticated supporting documentation.

Illicit antiquities and UAE

I am grateful to the BBC monitoring service (and Happy 90th Birthday!) for their report on the newly issued "Federal Legal Decree No 5 for 2012 on combating cyber crimes".

The new law stipulates: "... penalties of imprisonment on any person using electronic sites or any information technology means to call to engage in the unauthorized trade of antiquities and works of art."

Will this take material off line and off the market?

North American Collector and Dealers Charged: Indictment

© ICE

Lee Rosenbaum of Culturegrrl has a helpful comment on the charges over the Egyptian antiquities ("Museum Alert: Egyptian Art Collector Joseph Lewis Charged with Smuggling, Money Laundering", July 15, 2011). She has a link to the indictment.

• Count 1: Conspiracy to Smuggle
• Count 2: Money Laundering Conspiracy
• Counts 3-7: Smuggling Goods into the United States and Fraudulent Importation and Transportation of Goods
• Count 8: False Statement
• Count 9: False Statement

North American Collector and Dealers Charged: Press Release

© ICE

The US Attorney's Office (Eastern District of New York) has issued a press release relating to "Dealers and collector charged with smuggling Egyptian antiquities" (July 14, 2011).

As alleged in the indictment, from October 2008 through November 2009, Lewis purchased a Greco-Roman style Egyptian sarcophagus, a nesting set of three Egyptian sarcophagi, a set of Egyptian funerary boats and Egyptian limestone figures from Khouli, who earlier acquired those items from Alshdaifat and Ramadan. Each of these antiquities was exported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and smuggled into the United States using a variety of illegal methods intended to avoid detection and scrutiny by U.S. Customs & Border Protection (“Customs”). Specifically, the defendants allegedly made false declarations to Customs concerning the country of origin and value of the antiquities, and provided misleading descriptions of the contents on shipping labels and customs paperwork, such as “antiques,” “wood panels” and “wooden painted box.”

Most of the smuggled antiquities have been recovered by law enforcement. The innermost sarcophagus of the nesting set was seized during a search of Khouli’s residence in September 2009. The middle sarcophagus and most of the outer sarcophagus were seized in November 2009, after they arrived via sea cargo at the Port of Newark, New Jersey. The Greco-Roman sarcophagus, funerary boats and limestone figures were seized during a search of Lewis’s residence on July 13, 2011. A civil complaint seeking forfeiture of Egyptian sarcophagi, Iraqi artifacts, cash and other items seized in connection with the government’s investigation was also unsealed this morning in Brooklyn federal court.

The press release stresses: "The charges in the indictment are merely allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty".

North American Charges: The Network

© ICE

Yesterday's news about the charges brought against dealers and a collector of Egyptian antiquities in North America appears to be part of a much wider picture. Zahi Hawass has now written about the story.

In 2009, U.S. customs authorities seized a shipment of antiquities on their way to a gallery in New York City. This shipment included an ancient Egyptian coffin, which the Ministry of State for Antiquities (then the Supreme Council of Antiquities) was able to help authenticate. By investigating this and other suspicious shipments, Homeland Security investigators were able to reveal a network of smugglers and collectors that reached to Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, Iraq, and other countries.

It will be interesting to learn about the UK connection. Who is involved?

It also looks as if this could be part of a larger criminal network:

According to evidence gathered by the investigators, the suspects had been using their New York gallery to import and sell stolen artifacts, allowing them to funnel large sums of money to other criminals in many parts of the world.

I suspect more information will be released when the legal wheels start to turn.

Dealers Charged Following Egyptian Seizures

© ICE

The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have announced that charges have been brought against dealers from Michigan, New York, Virginia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) ("ICE makes arrests and seizes cultural artifacts stolen from Egypt, Set of Sarcophagi more than 2,000 years old", July 14, 2011). The seizures include "a unique three-part coffin set belonging to Shesepamuntayesher from the Saite period or 26th Dynasty, approximately 664-552 B.C."

Those arrested are named:

Salem Alshdaifat, an antiquities dealer who operated a business called Holyland Numismatics in Bloomfield, Mich.; Joseph Lewis, a collector and benefactor of Egyptian antiquities; and Mousa Kouli, an antiquities dealer who operated a business called Windsor Antiquities in New York.

In addition, "Ayman Ramadan, a Jordanian antiquities dealer, who operated a company called Nafertiti [sic.] Eastern Sculptures Trading, in Dubai, UAE, is a fugitive."

Detail is provided:

As alleged in the indictment, from approximately October 2008 until approximately November 2009, the defendants, together with others, engaged in a scheme to smuggle cultural antiquities into the United States. As part of the smuggling scheme, Lewis allegedly purchased a Greco-Roman style Egyptian sarcophagus, a nesting set of three Egyptian sarcophagi, a set of Egyptian boats and Egyptian limestone figures (collectively, "Egyptian antiquities") from Khouli, who purchased those items from Alshdaifat and Ramadan. Each of these antiquities was exported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and smuggled into the United States. 

Khouli allegedly provided Lewis with false provenances which stated that the Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960's when, in fact, both Lewis and Khouli knew that Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers.

• Holyland Numismatics

Windsor Antiquities appear to be offline at the moment. But for an earlier story from Paul Barford see here. Barford had noted the conjunction of the dealers in 2010.