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Showing posts with label ali aboutaam. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ali aboutaam. Show all posts

October 20, 2025

Monday, October 20, 2025 - ,,,,,,,,,, No comments

The Aboutaam Brothers, Phoenix Ancient Art, and the Hidden Routes of Italy’s Lost Antiquities

Phoenix Ancient Art - BRAFA 2019 

With a precautionary seizure order, filed by the Rome Public Prosecutor's Office, led by Prosecutor Stefano Opilio, nearly three hundred ancient Italian artefacts may finally be coming home after years of investigative work marking the judgement as one of Italy's most important cultural recoveries in recent history.  

This recovery finds its roots in a multi-year operation linking the Italian Carabinieri’s Cultural Heritage Protection Command with prosecutors in Rome and the United States, as well as Belgian investigative and judicial authorities.

Acting on a European seizure order issued in July 2025 officials have frozen nearly three hundred artefacts confirmed or strongly suspected to be of Italian origin.  These were identified as being tied to storage facilities in Belgium associated with the owners of the art gallery Phoenix Ancient Art, Hicham and Ali Aboutaam.  

Some of the artefacts identified in this operation coincide with business record documentation police obtained during a lengthy group pf investigations into the illicit dealings of  ancient art dealers Robert Hecht, Giacomo Medici, Gianfranco Becchina and Robin Symes, as well as a large dossier of material recovered from the prolific tomb raider Giuseppe Evangelisti.

While this blog has dedicated ample articles on the problematic art dealers mentioned above, we have never covered Evangelisti in the past.  His involvement in the illicit trade was first identified during Operation Geryon just before Christmas in 2003, when officers overheard a conversation during wire taps which referred to someone nicknamed “Peppino il taglialegna”—Peppino the woodcutter, a name derived from the individual's “day job”, providing firewood to two villages.  At night however, Evangelisti moonlighted as a tombarolo,  scavenging the hillsides for Attic and bucchero ceramics, bronze statues and various terracotta finds primarily used in funerary contexts. 

Luckily for investigators, when they raided Peppino's home near Lake Balsena they found not just the fruit of his recent clandestine labours but a batch of books on a shelf (nine books of agendas and seven albums) which documented the extent of his looting from 1997 to 2002.   A virtual goldmine for investigators, the albums contained photographs of every object he had ever looted, even going so far as to record the depth underground of the objects he illegally excavated.  In her review of these journals and albums, former Villa Giulia employee Daniela Rizzo stated that in her twenty-six years of experience, Evangelisti was the only person, aside from Giacomino (Medici), who recorded such detailed records of his activities. 

But back to the Belgium Recoveries

The recoveries announced today are due in part to the New York investigation into the purchasing activity of problematic hedge fund billionaire Michael Steinhardt who not only surrendered $70 million in plundered antiquities, but was the first collector in the United States to be handed a lifetime ban from antiquities collecting. That District Attorney's Office investigation, conducted by the Antiquities Trafficking Unit in Manhattan, uncovered a series of clandestine networks responsible for supplying looted Mediterranean objects to museums, collectors, and gallerists in the United States. 

Following up on that US investigation, a joint Italian-Belgian investigative team was formed expanding Italy's inquiry into northern Europe’s illicit art-dealing hubs and exploring the Aboutaam's footprint in Belgium.  This European investigation allowed for the cross-referencing of some 283 artefacts identified in Belgium, documented in Italian police databases and dealer archival photos.  That number in turn  demonstrates that despite numerous seizures in the US and Europe, the transnational ancient art market, despite decades of scandals, continues to recycle problematic artefacts extracted from clandestine digs.

According to Italy prosecutors Giovanni Conzo and Stefano Opilio, 132 of the seized works can be definitively linked to Italian sites, while the remaining artefacts almost certainly share the same illicit origin. The order, upheld by the Court of Appeal, described the pieces as the product of “illegal provenance” and repeated violations of cultural-property law.

Through it all Phoenix Ancient Art, long considered one of the most prominent galleries dealing in classical antiquities, once again finds itself at the center of controversy.  While the Aboutaam brothers have not been charged in connection with the Italian-Belgian operation, their business history is inseparable from the problematic story of the antiquities trade. 

In January 2023 at the Geneva police court, Ali Aboutaam was sentenced by the Swiss authorities following a complex and multi-year criminal and procedural investigation by officers and analysts with Switzerland's customs and anti-fraud divisions, working with the Geneva Public Prosecutor's Office.  The Swiss-based merchant had earlier been found guilty of forgery of titles.  In that case the courts also confirmed the seizure of 42 artefacts, confiscated due to their illicit origin. 

For Italian authorities, the current case is less about one gallery than about dismantling a system that has long allowed cultural property to vanish from archaeological landscapes and reappear behind glass cases thousands of kilometres away. The artefacts now bound for Rome belong, by law, to the Italian state’s “unavailable assets,” meaning they can neither be privately owned nor sold and their repatriation signals both a practical and symbolic victory for Italy’s Carabinieri TPC, which has spent decades tracking stolen heritage across the world’s galleries, auction houses and art fairs.

The anticipated return of these objects does more than close a legal chapter, it again  underscores how the same names, archives, and networks continue to bear fruit in terms of recoveries, even twenty years after the Medici conviction and the scandals that rocked museums in the 1990s and early 2000s. The discovery in Brussels suggests that, despite improved international cooperation, large caches of looted antiquities remain hidden in private storage and corporate collections.

April 18, 2025

Friday, April 18, 2025 - ,,,, No comments

Final Judgment in Qatar Investment and Projects Development Holding Company & Anor v. Phoenix Ancient Art SA & Ors: A Legal Milestone in Art Market Accountability

I. Introduction

This blog report outlines the legal proceedings and final judgment in the case of Qatar Investment and Projects Development Holding Company & Anor v. Phoenix Ancient Art SA & Ors, culminating in a decision by the England and Wales High Court (King's Bench Division) in April 2025. The case centers on allegations of fraud and misrepresentation concerning the sale of antiquities to Sheikh Hamad Bin Abdullah Al-Thani by Phoenix Ancient Art, based in New York and Geneva.

II. Background

Between 2013 and 2014 Sheikh Hamad Bin Abdullah Al-Thani, through Qatar Investment and Projects Development Holding Company (QIPCO), acquired several antiquities from Phoenix Ancient Art, including:

  • A chalcedony statuette of Nike, purchased for $2.2 million.

  • A marble head of Alexander the Great as Herakles, purchased for $3 million.

al Thani raised concerns in early 2018 about the authenticity of the Nike statue after receiving a report claiming that microscopic inspection detected modern machine tool markings and machine polishing inconsistent with ancient craftsmanship.

III. Legal Proceedings

  • Initial Claims and Limitations: In his initial complaint filed on 22 October 2020 with the high court of London, Sheikh Hamad Bin Abdulla al Thani, represented by the lawyers Pinsent Masons, accused Phoenix Ancient Art of breach of contract and/or negligent misrepresentation on the part of the gallery as the vendor of the $2.2 million Byzantine statuette of Nike whose authenticity is disputed.  Roland Ansermet was also named in the 22 October 2020 UK lawsuit.  In their response, the defendants contested the claims, arguing also that they were time-barred under the Limitation Act 1980. The High Court initially sided with the defendants 27 July 2021 ruling that despite issues related to the Covid 19 pandemic,  the complainant had failed to serve his complaint on Phoenix Ancient Art within the reasonable time limit.  In April 2022 the UK Court of Appeal upheld this decision, emphasising procedural adherence over pandemic-related delays.

  • New Action and Allegations: On 8 September 2023, Sheikh Hamad Bin Abdulla al Thani and QIPCO file a new claim, asserting fraud, fraudulent misrepresentation, and unlawful means conspiracy. The court permitted these claims to proceed, determining they were not clearly time-barred and did not constitute an abuse of process.

  • Summary Judgment: On 4 June 2024, the High Court granted summary judgment in favour of QIPCO, citing Phoenix Ancient Art's failure to disclose critical documents and evidence supporting allegations of fraud and misrepresentation.

IV. Final Judgment and Remedies

On 11 April 2025, the High Court ruled in favour of Sheikh Hamad Bin Abdullah Al-Thani, issuing a summary judgment pursuant to CPR 24.3 against Phoenix Ancient Art, Ali and Hicham Aboutaam, and the retired Swiss antiques dealer, Roland Ansermet concluding that Phoenix Ancient Art had engaged in fraud, dishonesty and fraudulent misrepresentation in relation to al Thani's claim. The court imposed a worldwide asset freeze of $10 million against Phoenix Ancient Art to secure potential damages and costs.

V. Implications

This case underscores the importance of due diligence and transparency in the art and antiquities market.  It highlights the legal responsibilities of dealers to provide accurate provenance information and the potential consequences of misrepresentation. The judgment serves as a precedent for future disputes involving the authenticity of cultural property.

References

  • Qatar Investment and Projects Development Holding Co & Anor v. Phoenix Ancient Art SA & Ors [2024] EWHC 1331 (KB)

  • Qatar Investment and Project Development Holding Company & Anor v. Phoenix Ancient Art SA [2022] EWCA Civ 422

  • "Qatari royal wins court ruling over provenance of £4m antiquities," The Times, April 2025.

By: Alice Bientinesi

September 1, 2024

Sunday, September 01, 2024 - ,,, No comments

Phoenix Ancient Art: A Summer of Legal Entanglements and Tax Showdowns


ARCA summers are pretty busy as each year.  Since 2009, the Association has hosted its multi-course Postgraduate Certificate Program in Art Crime and Cultural heritage which often means posting new developments in the art and antiquities crime sphere slow while we turn our attention towards trainees.  Now that the 13th edition of this annual PG Cert has concluded, we can take time to reflect on some of the summer's more interesting art and antiquities stories, two which involve the ancient art gallery, Phoenix Ancient Art.

More pieces, More Accusations

Back on the 15th of May, Gotham City, a French-speaking Swiss news website that focuses on white-collar crime reported that Ali Aboutaam, the Geneva-based ancient art dealer was again in hot water with the public prosecutor's office.  Despite his previous conviction in January 2023, where he received an 18-month suspended prison sentence,  Ali Aboutaam is again the focus of a new Swiss investigation.

According to the Geneva public prosecutor's office, Ali is alleged to have possessed two suspect alabaster (brucite) statues, representing a man and a woman, while, according to Gotham's reporting, he “knew that these cultural properties had been illicitly acquired during illegal excavations in Yemen”.  Assessed by art historians, at least one of the small statues is believed to come from an area located in the southern Yemeni plateau known for the immense Himyarite Kingdom .  The area is home to a large necropolis, Shuka, which dates to the 1st-3rd centuries CE and has been the focus of looting in varying periods.

Dat-Hamin Stele
This is not the first time that Phoenix Ancient Art has handled suspect South Arabian artefacts from this war-torn country in the MENA Region.  In 2002, its New York affiliate consigned a third-century CE alabaster stele depicting the fertility goddess Dat-Hamin for auction at Sotheby’s New York.  In that instance, the gallery's owners, brothers Ali and Hicham Aboutaam, had told the auction house that the piece came from a private English collection.

In their research to prepare for their upcoming auction, Sotheby's staff discovered that the stele had been photographed and documented as a part of the Aden Museum's collection in Yemen.  The artefact had been looted in July 1994 during what is referred to as the Summer War, a civil war fought between the two Yemeni forces of the pro-union northern and the socialist separatist southern Yemeni states and their various supporters.  Relinquished by the dealers, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) ultimately seized the stele in September 2003, and the stela was officially signed over to the Yemeni ambassador in December 2004.

Following that civil war, Yemen implemented wider legal protections for its cultural heritage, although instability resulting from the present-day civil war continues to make enforcement difficult.  Law Number 21 of 1994 on Antiquities, as amended by Law Number 8 of 1997, is the primary law governing ancient sites and objects in the country.  

This law defines Yemen's “archaeological” materials; vests their ownership in the State, and controls their protection, conservation, restoration, and study.  It addresses aspects of ownership, permissions and obligations for archaeological work, introduces penalties for the illegal trade, and sets duties and guidelines on how to deal with discovered and excavated objects.  

As such, it will be interesting to evaluate what documents Phoenix possesses in support of their circulation of these two objects in Switzerland, which are presently of interest to that country's public prosecutor. 

Moving on to Taxes...

On 18 July 2024 Switzerland's Bundesgericht, the country's Federal Supreme Court in Lucerne issued several ruling impacting Ali Aboutaam.  Judgments 9C_107, 9C_184, 9C_187 and 203/2023 of 18 July 2024, issued by Federal Judges Thomas Stadelmann as the Presiding Judge, along with Judges Margit Moser-Szeless and Michael Beusch, rejected a series of complex appeals, made through the art dealer's attorneys, concerning outstanding tax assessments in relation to the importation of a group of antiquities, some housed outside the gallery and outside the Ports Francs et Entrepôts de Genève. 

In rejecting Aboutaam's appeals, the higher court's final rulings reaffirms that the Swiss-based brother has to pay approximately 3.5 million Swiss francs ($4,125,444.82) in outstanding value-added tax (VAT), as assessed by the Bundesamt für Zoll und Grenzsicherheit (Federal Customs Administration) and largely affirmed by the Federal Administrative Court.  Ali was also ordered to pay late interest payments totalling approximately 900,000 Swiss francs (another $1,060,995.36).

In November 2021, Aboutaam had originally handed a SFr 1.6m fine via Swiss customs, including the costs of the proceedings.  The tax authorities came after the antiquities dealer in that instance after Phoenix Ancient Art imported 37 million Swiss francs worth of antiquities into Switzerland between 2010 and 2017, but without paying the applicable VAT. 

The high court's judges based July's decions on various elements confirmed within the Aboutaam's case files.  First, they noted that some of the artefacts had been stored and displayed within Ali Aboutaam's private home for an average period of between the end of 2012 and 28 February 2017, the date that his home was searched pursuant to two search and seizure orders, one issued by the Geneva Prosecutor and one issued by the Federal Customs Administration of the Swiss Confederation.  That search occurred in relation to a Swiss investigation into the movements of antiquities of suspicious provenance, or chain of title, or for being imported and exported potentially in violation of Swiss law governing cultural property.  

In issuing their taxation decisions, the Swiss high court recalled "that according to art. 30 para. 1 of the Federal Ordinance of 1 November 2006 on customs (OD; RS 631.01; cf.nature. 9 al. 1 and 2 LD), goods for temporary admission into the customs territory are admitted duty-free if they are the property of a person having his registered office or domicile outside the customs territory and if they are used by such a person (let. a), if they can be identified with certainty (let. b), if the admission lasts for a maximum of two years (let. c) and if they are re-exported in the same state, the use is not deemed to be a change (let. d). The procedure for temporary admission is provided for in Articles 162 to 164 OD." 

In rejecting Aboutaams tax-related appeals, the ruling judges and the court affirmed that the Swiss-based dealer had misused the relocation procedure, which allows goods intended for resale abroad to be exempt from import tax, by instead keeping some of these items for personal use.


Dib is the business partner of Hamburg-based dealer of Egyptian art Serop Simonian who was later arrested in Hamburg by German police on suspicion of art trafficking in August 2020 and released after only five weeks behind bars.  Subject to a European Arrest Warrant, Dib was then taken into custody by French authorities on 22 March 2022.   Likewise his business partner Serop, having surrendered in Germany, was extradited to France, where he too has been indicted on 15 September 2023 on charges of fraud and organised gang money laundering as well as for criminal association. 

Fairs, Retirement, Coins, and Wine

Despite these woes, over the summer Phoenix Ancient Art participated in the UK's annual Treasure House fair from 27 June 2024 through 2 July 2024.  When interviewed, Hicham Aboutaam, says that his brother retired two years ago from Phoenix Anicent Art S.A., “to focus on the establishment of a foundation”.  Michael Hedqvist, is now listed as MD/Chief Operating Officer (directeur) of the Swiss gallery.  Ali's own website, aliaboutaam.com, now has a page which states that the Geneva dealer is "Currently developing a collection of ancient Greek and Roman coins and rare wines. Reach out if that sounds interesting to you."   

From the 13,408 likes on the Instagram post at the top of this blog post, it doesn't seem like his social followers are overly perturbed by his legal entanglements. 

By:  Lynda Albertson

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