New York: Billionaire hedge fund manager Michael Steinhardt has agreed to turn over more than $70 million worth of stolen antiquities and will be subject to an unprecedented lifetime ban on obtaining antiquities, the Manhattan District Attorney announced Monday.
In return, Steinhardt, a philanthropist who is president of the Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life, and co-founder of Birthright Israel, an organization that sends young Jews on free trips to Israel, was given the illegally smuggled pieces. You don’t have to face criminal charges to get it. Prosecutors said that of 11 countries, including Iraq, Egypt, Greece, Israel, Syria and Turkey.
District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said, “For decades, Michael Steinhardt has had an insatiable appetite for looted artifacts without concern for the legitimacy of his works, the legitimacy of the pieces he bought and sold, or the serious cultural damage he has caused around the world.” displayed.” said in a news release. “His quest for ‘new’ additions to display and sell knew no geographic or moral limits, as reflected in the vast underworld of antiques smugglers, crime bosses, money launderers and tomb raiders, on which he built his Trusted to expand the collection.”
Steinhardt said in a prepared statement issued by his attorneys that he is “delighted that the district attorney’s years-long investigation has ended without charges, and that the items wrongfully taken by others have been recovered from their originals.” countries will be returned.”
Attorney Andrew J. Lavender and Theodore V. Wells Jr. said that many of the dealers from whom Steinhardt purchased the items “made representations specific to the items as to the legitimate title of the dealers, and to their alleged provenance.”
According to prosecutors, while complaining about a summons in May 2017 requesting documentation for an antiquity, Steinhardt pointed to a small chest from Greece and told an investigator, “You see this piece ? It has no origin. If I see a piece and I like it, I buy it.”
Prosecutors said many of the pieces acquired by Steinhardt during war or civil unrest were removed from their countries of origin.
Steinhardt, who turned 81 on Tuesday, founded the hedge fund Steinhardt Partners in 1967 and spun off in 1995. He came out of retirement in 2004 as head of Wisdom Tree Investments.
New York University named its Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development after Steinhardt in recognition of two $10 million donations.
Manhattan prosecutors began investigating Steinhardt’s collection of ancient artifacts in 2017 and raided his office and his Manhattan home in 2018, confiscating several artifacts that were looted by investigators.
Items surrendered by Steinhardt include the head of a stag as a ceremonial vessel for libation, from 400 BC, which prosecutors say was unproven in the international market after massive looting in Milas, Turkey. Have you seen. The district attorney said the stag’s head was worth $3.5 million.
There was also a chest for human remains from the Greek island of Crete, called the larynx and dating from about 1300 BCE, which prosecutors said was purchased from a known antiquity smuggler.
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