Former Louvre Director Charged In Antique Trafficking Case

Topline

Former Louvre director Jean-Luc Martinez, who led the world’s largest and most-visited museum from 2013 till final 12 months, has been charged in reference to the trafficking of antiquities from the Center East, in accordance with French media retailers.

President of Louvre Museum Jean-Luc Martinez attends the Jean-Michel Othoniel “La Rose du Louvre” … [+] Exhibition Preview at Louvre Museum on Might 24, 2019 in Paris, France.

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Key Info

Martinez was indicted with complicity of “gang fraud and laundering“ of antiquities authorities consider had been smuggled from Egypt after which bought by the Louvre Abu Dhabi, which opened in 2017, judicial sources informed AFP.

He was charged late Wednesday after being questioned this week alongside two French consultants in Egyptian artwork, neither of whom had been charged, in accordance with AFP.

Sources informed AFP that Martinez is accused of “concealing the origin of criminally obtained works by false endorsement,” or turning a blind eye to false paperwork for items.

Martinez’s legal professionals informed AFP the previous director contests his indictment “within the strongest approach” and “has little doubt that his good faith can be established” in court docket.

Key Background

In 2016, the Louvre Abu Dhabi bought a pink granite stele of the Egyption pharaoh Tutankhamun and a handful of different historic artifacts for $8.5 million. French authorities opened an investigation two years later and in March, Robin Dib, the German-Lebanese gallery proprietor who brokered the sale, was arrested in Hamburg and delivered to Paris for questioning, in accordance with AFP. In 2019, the Metropolitan Museum of Artwork in New York returned an ancient golden Egyptian sarcophagus to Egypt after it was discovered to have been stolen in the course of the Arab Spring uprisings. Two French consultants concerned with the acquisition, archaeology knowledgeable Christophe Kunicki and seller Richard Semper, had been arrested for felony conspiracy, gang fraud and laundering the next 12 months. Investigators in each the U.S. and France are looking into purchases from Kunicki and Dib made by the Louvre and the Met, in accordance with The Artwork Newspaper.