Antiquities smuggler’s family agrees to forfeit $12 million and a statue

The proposed forfeiture settlement, which is topic to overview by a district decide within the Southern District of New York, requires Latchford’s daughter, Julia Copleston, to forfeit $12 million and a Seventh-century bronze statue depicting the four-armed goddess Durga, which is alleged to have been stolen from Vietnam.

In line with federal authorities, Latchford acquired at the least $12 million as cost for the sale of stolen and smuggled Southeast Asian antiquities to consumers and sellers in america. Latchford offered false paperwork when these antiquities had been imported into america.

A number of the ill-gotten property cited by federal prosecutors had been uncovered in a 2021 Washington Publish profile of Latchford primarily based on the Pandora Papers leak.

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“For years, Douglas Latchford made thousands and thousands from promoting looted antiquities within the U.S. artwork market, stashing his ill-gotten good points offshore,” U.S. Lawyer Damian Williams stated in asserting the forfeiture settlement. “This historic forfeiture motion and settlement reveals that we’ll be relentless in following the cash wherever it results in battle the illicit commerce in cultural patrimony.”

Some artwork historians and researchers who’ve tracked the commerce in stolen Asian antiquities praised the settlement.

“What we discovered by means of the Pandora Papers investigation is the magnitude of Latchford’s wealth,” stated Angela Chiu, an artwork historian. In that gentle, “the actual fact that they will forfeit $12 million seems modest. However this can be a landmark forfeiture. It’s a sign that U.S. authorities are sending. They’re not simply going to grab the artworks. They’re going after the ill-gotten good points these smugglers have made.”