Steven D. Feldman, a partner at Herrick, Feinstein LLP, highlights three cases involving art and cultural objects in 2012 in the Spring 2013 issue of The Journal of Art Crime:
In the United States, the year 2012
was notable for the intersection of criminal cases, and the art and cultural
property world. Rather than a year limited to more routine cases of stolen art,
fraudulent paintings, or the theft of proceeds from gallery sales, the criminal
art and cultural object disputes included a constellation of fascinating cases
covering a wide breadth of subjects and issues. The cases were investigated and
prosecuted by a number of different agencies illustrating the variety of law enforcement
entities interested in and committed to protecting art and cultural items, and
their respective markets.
One case featured stolen historical documents:
In June 2012, Barry H. Landau, a
famous collector of presidential memorabilia, was sentenced to seven years’
imprisonment for stealing valuable historical documents from museums and
historical societies in Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York and Connecticut, then
selling selected documents for profit. Mr. Landau and a young colleague, Jason
Savedoff were prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of
Maryland. Both men pleaded guilty. The scheme may have included more than
10,000 stolen items.
Another case targeted fake looted Greek coins:
In July 2012, Dr. Arnold-Peter
Weiss – a prominent Rhode Island hand surgeon, professor of orthopedics at
Brown University School of Medicine, and dealer in ancient coins – pleaded guilty
in New York State court to three misdemeanor counts of attempted criminal
possession of stolen property, specifically three ancient coins he believed had
been recently looted from Italy. Dr. Weiss was prosecuted by the Manhattan
District Attorney’s Office. Pursuant to a plea agreement, Dr. Weiss was
sentenced to 70 hours of community service (providing medical care to
disadvantaged patients in Rhode Island), was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine for
each of the three coins in the case, and forfeited an additional 23 ancient
coins that were seized from him at the time of his arrest. The court also
ordered Dr. Weiss to write an article for publication in a coin collecting
magazine or journal warning of the risks of dealing in coins of unknown or
looted provenance.
And the third case was about dinosaur fossils:
On December 27, 2012, Eric Prokopi, a self-described “commercial
paleontologist,” pled guilty to engaging in a scheme to illegally import the
fossilized remains of numerous dinosaurs that had been taken out of their
native countries illegally and smuggled into the United States. Specifically,
Mr. Prokopi pled guilty to a three-count criminal information: Count One
charged conspiracy to smuggle illegal goods and make false statements with
respect to a Chinese Microraptor fling dinosaur; Count Two charged entry of
goods by means of false statements with respect to two Mongolian dinosaur
fossils; and Count Three charged interstate and foreign transportation of goods
converted and taken by fraud.
Steven D. Feldman heads Herrick's White Collar Litigation practice. He is also a member of Herrick's Art Law Group where he represents individuals and entities in criminal-art related matters. Prior to joining Herrick, Steven spent more than six years as a federal prosecutor at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.
Mr. Feldman's article is featured in the ninth issue of The Journal of Art Crime, edited by ARCA Founder Noah Charney. The Journal is available electronically (pdf) and in print via subscription and Amazon.com. The Associate Editor, Marc Balcells (ARCA '11), is a Graduate Teaching Fellow at the Department of Political Science, John Jay College of Criminal Justice -- The City University of New York.
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