Manhattan DA’s Office Seized Dozens of Antiquities from the Metropolitan Museum in June, Bringing Total to $95 M.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s office under Alvin Bragg removed dozens of antiquities from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in June, bringing the total taken from the museum since 2017 to more than 120 objects valued at over $95 million, according to an inventory cited by the New York Times. The seizures stem from investigations into international antiquities smuggling networks, with prosecutors subpoenaing Met records tied to dealers suspected of trafficking links, including Robert Hecht, who sold the Met the Euphronios krater for more than $1 million in 1972 (returned to Italy in 2008). The June removals, believed looted from countries including Italy, Turkey, and Egypt, were valued from $20,000 to $26 million and included a first-century CE Roman marble head from Greece, a 2,000-year-old bronze statuette from Turkey, and an Egyptian gold diadem with rams’ heads. The Met said it is cooperating and returning objects after its own provenance review, while Antiquities Trafficking Unit head Matthew Bogdanos criticized the pace, saying repeated seizures “spoke for themselves.”
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This story was covered in Seized Treasures, Culture Cash, and Political Pressure