JTA – Michael Steinhardt, hedge funder and megadonor for Jewish causes, has agreed to surrender 180 stolen antiquities valued at $70 million in their original homeland and never collect the ancient artifacts again.
In return, Steinhardt, a philanthropist who is president of the Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life and co-founder of Birthright Israel, an organization that sends young Jews on free trips to Israel, received more than 1,000 pieces. Will not face criminal charges. Prosecutors said the illegal smuggling was carried out in 11 countries, including Egypt, Greece, Israel, Syria and Turkey.
Those are the terms of a deal Steinhardt finalized Monday with Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, whose office several years ago launched an investigation into a Lebanese statue that Steinhardt lent to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He concluded that the statue was illegally taken from Lebanon – making it, like countless other items, that Steinhardt had collected over the years largely from Middle Eastern countries.
Steinhardt’s attorneys and Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance issued separate statements Monday, CNBC reported, quite different in intent: Steinhardt said he purchased the item in good faith, but Vance was not buying it.
Vance said in a separate statement, “For decades, Michael Steinhardt has been responsible for looted artifacts without concern for the legitimacy of his works, the legitimacy of the pieces he bought and sold, or the serious cultural harm he caused around the world.” displayed an insatiable appetite.” ,
“His quest for ‘new’ additions to display and sell knew no geographic or moral limits, as reflected in the vast underworld of antiques smugglers, crime bosses, money launderers and tomb raiders, on which he built his Trusted to expand the collection.”
Pictured (left to right): The larynx, a death mask, and stag’s head Ryton (Manhattan District Attorney’s Office)
Steinhardt’s lawyers portrayed their client as a well-intentioned party.
“Mr. Steinhardt is pleased that the District Attorney’s years-long investigation has ended without charges, and that items wrongfully taken by others will be returned to their countries of origin,” said Steinhardt’s attorneys said. “Many of the dealers from whom Mr. Steinhardt purchased these items made specific representations as to the valid title of the dealers to the goods and their alleged origin.”
Vance’s office conducted the investigation in collaboration with law enforcement from 11 countries, including Israel.
Some of the goods were looted during the conflict in countries including Lebanon, Iraq and Turkey. Steinhardt lent some of them to museums.
As CNBC reports, the deal between Steinhardt and Vance suggests that at least one item being repatriated, a box for human remains from Crete, was robbed after Steinhardt gave investigators another Was tempted to look for the item. “You see this piece?” He reportedly said. “There’s no origin to it. If I see a piece and I like it, I buy it.”
Going forward, Steinhardt would be barred for life from receiving anything made before 1500 CE.
In 2019, Steinhardt, 80, who helped found Birthright Israel and supported a wide range of Jewish institutions, was accused of making sexually inappropriate remarks to women who had contributed to Jewish philanthropy or the arts. They have been approached as part of the work. , Steinhardt denied the allegations, but acknowledged a pattern of comments “that were rude, abusive and just plain dumb.”
Michael Steinhardt attends a meeting in the Knesset on April 26, 2017 in Jerusalem. (Yontan Sindel/Flash90)
Steinhardt, who turned 81 on Tuesday, founded the hedge fund Steinhardt Partners in 1967 and spun off in 1995. He came out of retirement in 2004 as head of Wisdom Tree Investments.
New York University named its Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development after Steinhardt in recognition of two $10 million donations.
Items surrendered by Steinhardt include the head of a stag as a ceremonial vessel for libation, from 400 BC, which prosecutors say was unproven in the international market after massive looting in Milas, Turkey. Have you seen. The district attorney said the stag’s head was worth $3.5 million.
There was also a chest for human remains from the Greek island of Crete, called the larynx and dating from about 1300 BCE, which prosecutors said was purchased from a known antiquity smuggler.
AP contributed to this report