Five influential members of the art-рынка France arrested in Paris
ARTinvestment.RU   25 июня 2020

Among the detainees — the head of one of the auction houses of Paris and former curator of the Louvre, etc.

Detained on 22 and 23 June in Paris five representatives of the art-рынка France are suspected of sale of objects of art and antiquities illegally imported into the country from the States of the Middle East.

To information franceinfo, four arrests were conducted Monday, June 22, and another arrest occurred on the morning of the next day. All arrests — a result of the investigation police and the Central office for combating trafficking in persons and cultural property (OCBC), ongoing since February 2019. The names of the detainees are not known, but it is known that they all belong to the influential circle of experts, which includes renowned gallerists and experts representing museums at the international level.

To to publication Connaissance des Arts, among the detainees — President of the auction house Pierre Bergé & Associés, an expert on Mediterranean archaeology, former curator of the Louvre, the famous Parisian gallerist and art-дилер. At the moment we know that they are suspected of involvement in a network of art-трафика legalization of illegally imported antiquities and works of art at the art-рынке France, the sale of stolen or illegally exported from countries suffering from political unrest (Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Syria), cultural values.

According to sources close to the investigation, production for the "hundreds of objects of art and tens of millions of euros", and the legal treatment and trade of ancient objects was conducted on so high level that many of them were bought by well-known private collectors and art-институциями, the level of the Louvre Abu-Даби or subway-музей in new-Йорке.

In recent years a black market of stolen art and Antiques has become a real problem for the international community, including from-за high-level professionals that provides legal support for illegal transactions. So, in 2019, the metro-музею had to return to Egypt the Golden sarcophagus of Ptolemy (150-50 BCE), bought in 2017 in a private transaction for €3.5 million, after it was established that it was stolen during the riots in Egypt 2011. Since then, in order to avoid repetition of this situation, the Museum has revised the process of checking the provenance of their purchases.

In light of the recent events in the field of investigation of cases of illegal trade in art objects of the ancient world and antiquities, it is clear that Europe is also dramatically changing the organization of the market of antiquities and issues of transparency.

the Material was prepared by Maria Kuznetsova AI

Sources: connaissancedesarts.com, francetvinfo.fr