Displaying items by tag: black market

A new bill introduced in Washington, DC last week seeks to block looted Syrian cultural heritage from entering the US. The Protect and Preserve International Cultural Property Act asks Congress to appoint a cultural property protection czar and establish emergency import restrictions to protect endangered cultural patrimony. The bill aims to “deny terrorists and criminals the ability to profit from instability by looting the world of its greatest treasures,” says the congressman Eliot Engel, a Democrat from New York, in a statement. Engel is co-sponsoring the legislation with Chris Smith, a Republican from New Jersey.

Black market sales of looted cultural objects are the largest source of funding for the Islamic State after oil, according to Newsweek.

To the chagrin of New York antiques dealers, lawmakers in Albany have voted to outlaw the sale of virtually all items containing more than small amounts of elephant ivory, mammoth ivory or rhinoceros horn. The legislation, which is backed by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, will essentially eliminate New York’s central role in a well-established, nationwide trade with an estimated annual value of $500 million.

Lawmakers say the prohibitions are needed to curtail the slaughter of endangered African elephants and rhinos, which they say is fueled by a global black market in poached ivory, some of which has turned up in New York.

Pedro Antonio Marcuello Guzman of Miami and Maria Martha Elisa Ornelas Lazo of Mexico City have pled guilty to selling a stolen Henri Matisse painting on Miami’s black market. The duo admitted to FBI agents that they knew the $3 million painting, Odalisque in Red Pants (1925), had been stolen before making a deal to sell it to an undercover officer who was part of a sting operation. The pair was arrested after the sale was made.

The painting has been missing from Venezuela’s Sofia Imber Contemporary Art Museum since approximately 2002 when it was swapped for a fake. Some speculate the switch went unnoticed for years. Even though Interpol, the FBI, and police in France and Spain have investigated the case, the details of the theft remain a mystery. However, Guzman and Lazo said in court that they were told museum employees hung the forgery in place of the original.

Although the painting has been recovered, it has not been returned to Venezuela. Guzman faces 10 years in prison for conspiracy to transport and sell stolen property, while Lazo faces five years. The pair is scheduled to be sentenced in January.