Manhattan DA Vance says hedge fund pioneer Michael Steinhardt surrendered 180 stolen antiquities value $70 million

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. stated Monday that hedge fund pioneer and philanthropist Michael Steinhardt has surrendered 180 stolen antiquities valued at $70 million and has been banned for all times from receiving antiquities.

The DA’s workplace stated in an announcement that the dedication of the gadgets comes after an investigation started in 2017 into billionaire Steinhardt’s “criminal conduct.” According to the DA’s workplace, the settlement ends a grand jury investigation of Steinhardt, that means he is not going to be criminally charged.

The workplace stated “the confiscated pieces were looted and illegally smuggled out of 11 countries, smuggled by 12 criminal smuggling networks, and lacked verifiable provenance before being displayed on the international art market.” Was.”

Vance said the settlement with Steinhardt, 80, would return the stolen items to their rightful owners in those countries, rather than as evidence “to finish a grand jury indictment, trial, potential sentencing and sentencing.”

settlement It comes three years after investigators raided Steinhardt’s office and home as part of the Vance investigation., The DA stated Steinhart’s settlement to simply accept a lifetime ban on receiving antiquities was “unprecedented.”

“Even although Steinhardt’s a long time of indifference to the rights of the folks to their sacred treasury is appalling, the pursuits of justice earlier than indictment and trial favor a decision that ensures that a substantial amount of harm to world cultural heritage is undone. Will occur, as soon as and for all,” Vance stated.

Steinhardt based his firm Steinhardt Partners LLP in 1967. He closed the hedge fund in 1995. Steinhardt also served as chairman of the board for 15 years. NS Wisdom Tree Investing Before retiring in 2019.

Steinhardt’s attorneys, Andrew Lavender and Theodore Wells Jr., said in a statement: “Mr. Steinhardt is happy that the District Attorney’s years-long investigation has ended with out cost, and that others have wrongly claimed Items shipped can be returned to their place of birth. nations.”

“Many of the sellers from whom Mr. Steinhardt bought these things made particular representations as to the legitimate title of the sellers to the products and their alleged origin,” the lawyer said. “As far as these representations are false, Mr. Steinhardt reserves the fitting to hunt reimbursement from the sellers concerned.”

The DA’s office said the investigation began when investigators examined a statue of a Lebanese bull’s head, which was stolen during the Lebanese Civil War.

That investigation determined that Steinhardt had purchased that multi-million dollar statue and later loaned it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the office said. That statue was confiscated, as was another marble statue of a calf, also from Lebanon, and which Steinhart also bought for millions of dollars.

“In the method of uncovering the Lebanese statues, the DA’s workplace discovered that Steinhardt had extra looted antiquities in his residence and workplace, and shortly thereafter, he was concerned within the acquisition, possession and sale of greater than 1,000 antiquities. The grand jury has launched a felony investigation since not less than 1987, the workplace stated.

“As part of this investigation into criminal conduct by Steinhardt, the DA’s office executed 17 judicially-ordered search warrants and conducted joint investigations with law-enforcement authorities in 11 countries: Bulgaria, Egypt, Greece, Iraq, Israel. , Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Syria and Turkey.

Vance said in a statement, “For a long time, Michael Steinhardt has held a popularity for looted artifacts with out concern for the legitimacy of his works, the legitimacy of the items he purchased and offered, or the intense cultural hurt he brought about all over the world.” displayed intense hunger.”

Vance stated, “There were no geographic or moral limits in their search for ‘new’ additions to display and sell, as reflected in the vast underworld of antiques smugglers, crime lords, money launderers and tomb raiders, in which But he relied on it to expand his collection.”

In 2019, The New York Times reported that Steinhardt was accused of sexual assault by six women. He denied blame.

The Times report, which additionally cited a lawsuit filed by one other girl, stated that when the ladies sought assist from the philanthropist he made sexual requests. The Times additionally reported that Steinhart appeared in two sexual assault lawsuits, however was not named as a defendant in both case.

The Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life referred to as the Times report “deliberately defamatory”.

But in an announcement, the inspiration additionally stated that Steinhardt’s “sense of humor may be insensitive, and he apologized for the unintended bad feelings his comments caused.” The web site features a assertion from the billionaire, who denies attempting to the touch anybody inappropriately.

Vance’s workplace particulars a number of gadgets surrendered by Steinhardt.

they embrace: