New York officials have returned nearly $14 million worth of stolen antiquities to Italy, including dozens of items seized from American billionaire Michael Steinhardt. More than a third of the 142 objects returned in a ceremony Wednesday were previously owned by the former hedge fund manager, who was once among the world’s most distinguished collectors of ancient art, according to the Manhattan district attorney’s office. Among the items repatriated was a 2,000-year-old fresco depicting a young Hercules strangling a snake. Valued at around $1 million, it was looted from an archaeological site near Mount Vesuvius in Italy in 1995. Later that year, Steinhardt bought the work without seeing evidence of its ownership history, according to investigators. Another 47 items from his collection were among the items returned. In a statement, Italy’s consul general in New York, Fabrizio Di Michele, said the restoration was “very important for our country.” The “Ercolano Fresco”, dating from 50 AD, was among the items repatriated. Credit: Manhattan District Attorney The announcement follows a years-long investigation into Steinhardt, who avoided charges after turning over 180 items worth $70 million and agreeing to what officials called an “unprecedented” lifetime ban on acquiring antiquities. In recent months, items from his collection — from statues and sculptures to gold masks, bowls and ceremonial vessels — have been returned to countries including Iraq, Israel and Turkey. Among them was a $1.2 million marble statue of a veiled woman’s head, which was repatriated to Libya in January. A helmet believed to have belonged to Alexander the Great’s father, Philip of Macedon, has meanwhile been handed over to Bulgaria. In February, 47 items from Steinhardt’s collection were returned to Greece, including a rare statue valued at $14 million. The investigation looked at more than 1,000 antiquities linked to Steinhardt since at least 1987. Authorities found he was in possession of looted items smuggled from 11 countries by 12 criminal networks. After the investigation concluded in December, then-Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. said Steinhardt had “demonstrated a rapacious appetite for looted items without concern for the legality of his actions, the legality of the pieces he bought and sold . or the serious cultural damage it caused to the whole world’. Related video: Italy’s ‘grave raiders’ capitalize on pandemic In a statement provided to CNN at the time, Steinhardt’s attorneys, Andrew J. Levander and Theodore V. Wells Jr., said their client was pleased the investigation was concluded without charges “and that the items illegally taken from others will be returned to their homelands”. They alleged that “many” of the dealers from whom Steinhardt purchased stolen items had “made specific representations as to the dealers’ legal title to the items and their purported provenance,” adding: “To the extent these statements were false, the Mr. Steinhardt has reserved his rights to seek compensation from the agents involved.” Of the other 94 items returned to Italy on Wednesday, 60 had been recovered by Royal-Athena Galleries, a defunct New York gallery founded by late antiquities dealer and forgery expert Jerome M. Eisenberg. The DA’s office did not suggest any wrongdoing on the part of Eisenberg or the Royal-Athena Galleries, which it thanked for its “assistance and cooperation” in the investigation. The other 34 items were related to “other ongoing investigations.”
