For years, Georges Lotfi has been a valuable resource for prosecutors investigating the global trafficking of looted antiques.
With information provided by Lotfi, Nejemank’s gold coffin was seized from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it was on display before law enforcement determined it had been looted from the tomb and returned it to Egypt.
His diagrams showing how international smuggling networks operate were used as educational tools, one federal investigator said in a paper, to help the Department of Homeland Security track human traffickers. It was useful for
But now an arrest warrant has been issued for Lotfi. Lotfi has been charged with criminal possession of stolen goods, and investigators say he himself was involved in trafficking stolen antiques for decades.
Lotfi, 81, is said to have asked authorities to inspect antiques stored in a warehouse in Jersey City, New Jersey, in 2021.
According to an affidavit dated August 3, which accompanied his arrest warrant, he had confidence in his ability to convince law enforcement agencies that the items had been purchased legally, thus precluding their involvement. Invited an agent in hopes of providing the stamp of approval he needed. To successfully sell or donate items.
Homeland Security agent Robert Mansen, who was involved in the investigation, said in an affidavit that Lotfi had a beneficial relationship with Mr. There is no doubt about it.
Mansen writes: will be able to determine their true origin.
Instead, investigators are now tracking Lotfi, who had homes in Lebanon, France and New York, according to court documents.
In a phone interview after the arrest warrant was served, Mr. Lotfi said he was shocked by the allegations brought against him and had spent years informing law enforcement to end illegal activities involving antiquities. Lotfi said the antiques he purchased were from licensed dealers and his collection is licensed by the Lebanese government.
“I fought them for 10 years to stop the illegal trade, but they turned their backs on me,” he said of the investigators, noting that the indictment against him was a way to bring public attention to their work. characterized as effort.
The 24 antiquities seized as part of the unit’s investigation include 23 mosaics from Syria and Lebanon and a 1,500-pound carved limestone sculpture called Palmyra Stone. According to affidavits, the value of individual items ranged from $20,000 to $2.5 million.
Mansen writes that Lotfi has expressed an intention to loan or donate many of these 20 antiquities to major museums. Authorities claim much of the loot passed through ports in New York and New Jersey and was stored in apartments on Fifth Avenue.
Lotfi, who once worked in Lebanon’s pharmaceutical industry, began his investigation into a 2,300-year-old marble bull’s head. The work, which had been on loan to The Met, was seized by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in 2017 after it was stolen from Lebanon during the civil war that shook Lebanon from 1975 to 1990. It has documented ownership of artifacts worth $12 million.
A second artifact, a $10 million marble torso believed to have come from the same location, was later seized at Lotfi’s New York apartment, according to court documents. According to an affidavit, Lebanese customs officials found his third piece from the site in a container Lotfi had shipped from New York to Tripoli.
Mr Lotfi told investigators that he had purchased three antiques from “well-known licensed dealers” in Lebanon in the 1980s.
In an interview, Lotfi said that when he started collecting in 1960, it was not common to question where antiques came from.
“It was like getting a baguette from a boulangerie,” he said. “It was no big deal. No one will look for the source.”
Although he acknowledges that the rules regarding collection have changed now, he said he can’t go back and change what happened decades ago.
Mr. Lotfi, an art and history buff, once owned an apartment on Fifth Avenue because of its proximity to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, but was interested in renting out some of the artifacts, so investigators to see some of his relics. — not selling them — to American museums.
“I’m not a smuggler,” he said. “I am a collector.”
Lotfi said he intended to return some of the artifacts to Lebanon, but American investigators seized them.
The indictment against Lotfi is part of a larger effort by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office to repatriate antiquities to countries where they were looted. About a decade ago, the agency, along with the Department of Homeland Security, began a full-scale investigation into the whereabouts of looted antiquities, convicting 12 traffickers and seizing more than 4,300 antiquities. claims.
To justify the seizure of the 24 antiquities, investigators found that approximately one-third of the items appeared to be dirty or “deposited” when Lotfi acquired them. He said he had evidence (partially photographic) that he appeared to (A legal excavation includes a thorough cleaning of the item, the affidavit states.)
Ultimately, Lotfi’s expertise in looting antiques, which she has displayed to law enforcement over the years, had to have been made aware of the issues regarding the provenance of the items Lotfi acquired, investigators said. concluded, it seemed to work against him. According to his affidavit, all 24 items were sold to Mr. Lotfi using “fabricated or overly common sources.”
“Not only has he demonstrated a deep knowledge of the illicit trade in antiquities in the Middle East and North Africa, but the nature of looted antiquities has made his buying, selling, and otherwise dealing with antiquities very difficult. revealed to me his perception of the stolen nature of his own antiques.”
Mr Lotfi has denied the allegations that the antiques were stolen, and claims that their purchase and possession were within Lebanese law and that he was trying to trick investigators by inviting them to the storage unit to be “fake”. said there is.
“I let them in,” he said. “I have nothing to hide.”
Susan Beachy contributed research.
