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August 27, 2026

Thursday, August 27, 2026 - ,,,, No comments

Keeping It in the Family: Serop Simonian’s Children Convicted Over Antiquities Proceeds

The Hamburg Regional Court has convicted the children of a Hamburg-based art dealer Serop Ohan Simonian in connection with the laundering and sale of Egyptian antiquities allegedly removed through illegal excavations.  The court's ruling ordered the confiscation of €32 million in proceeds and imposed fines for the antiquities dealer's son totalling €90,000 and his daughter totalling €30,000 

Image Credit: 
Serop Simonoian
Facebook Page. 
Although the German court did not publish either defendant’s full names, identifying them as the “adult son and daughter of the antiquities dealer”, the objects, transactions, charges, and financial transfers described by prosecutors correspond with the cases previously brought against Abraham and Alice Simonian.  They are the son and daughter of Hamburg-based antiquities dealer Serop Simonian.

The decision, handed down by the Court on Monday, 24 August 2026, represents one of the first major convictions arising from the sprawling international investigation into a network accused of placing illicitly excavated Egyptian objects with some of the world’s most prestigious museums.

According to German prosecutors, the male defendant, identified by the court as “S.”, was charged with receiving stolen property and fraud.  The female defendant, identified as “Sc.”, faced a money-laundering charge.  

Earlier reporting, including a detailed investigation published recently by The Atlantic in May 2026, decribes Serop Simonian’s son Abraham as being prosecuted in Germany for fraud and receiving stolen goods, and his sister, Alice, as being prosecuted for money laundering.  Their lawyers denied the allegations at the time.

The alignment of the charges is reinforced by the individual antiquities and transactions outlined in the Hamburg proceedings.  Prosecutors said that one of the cases concerned a funerary ensemble which included a series of nested coffins.  The objects were allegedly acquired after being removed illegally from Egypt and transported to Germany, despite being the property of the Egyptian state.  These artefacts were subsequently sold to the Louvre Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates with the assistance of a French antiquities dealer and accompanied by an allegedly forged Egyptian export permit.

While the museum was not named in the German court report, the description corresponds with the richly decorated cartonnage case and three wooden sarcophagi of Princess Henuttawy which was acquired by Louvre Abu Dhabi in 2014 for €1.5 million.  That funerary ensemble was sold by Christophe Kunicki, who is also presently under investigation, and purportedly came with a certificate from Michael Höveler-Müller as having been in Bonn, Germany prior to 2010. 

The Hamburg case also addressed the sale of a monumental bust, once said to be Cleopatra that is now referred to as ‘Head of a Ptolemaic Queen: Cleopatra VII (?).  The Abu Dhabi museum is known to have purchased seven pieces from Kunicki and his partner Richard Semper.  Prosecutors alleged that an individual identified as “Si.” had possessed the sculpture for years before it was sold to the Louvre-affiliated museum for approximately €35 million, the highest known price to date the museum has ever paid for a single antiquity.

The buyer was allegedly given a false account of the object’s ownership, supported by documentation intended to establish an apparently legitimate collecting history.

A third transaction mentioned in this German case involved a rose granite stela in the name of the “boy king” pharaoh Tutankhamun.  It was created in 1327 BCE.  According to prosecutors, “Si.” and another participant identified as “D.” sold the object to the museum in December 2016 for €8.5 million after misleading the buyer about its provenance.  

Jean-Luc Martinez, the former Louvre Museum Director from 2013 to 2021 approved the acquisition of the Tutankhamun stela and other objects, from Hamburg-based Lebanese dealer Roben Dib.  Dib worked for, as well as separately from, Serop Simonian and his brother Kevork, also supplying suspect artefacts through the auction house Pierre Bergé & Associés, as well as the Paris-based dealer Christophe Kunicki. 

Part of the payment for this stela was transferred in 2017 to the female defendant identified as “Sc.”, corresponding with the money-laundering charge previously reported against Alice Simonian.

Taken together, the details leave little reasonable doubt that the unnamed defendants in the Hamburg court ruling are Abraham and Alice Simonian. Nevertheless, the judgment must be reported with precision, as the court did not publicly disclose their full names. Their identities can instead be established by comparing the facts set out in the ruling with previously published open-source information concerning the proceedings against Serop Simonian and members of his family.

Before being formally charged, Serop Simonian, the Egyptian-born, Armenian antiquities dealer operated the Galerie Antiker Kunst Dr Serop Simonian and, later, Dionysos Ancient Coins & Antiquities in Hamburg.  Investigators have described him as a central figure in a network suspected of circulating looted Egyptian antiquities through dealers, warehouses, private collections, and museums in Europe, the Middle East, and the United States.

Simonian, through his lawyers, has denied the trafficking illicit antiquities.  He has maintained that much of the material handled by his family had been acquired by his brothers, Simon and Hagop Simonian, from Egyptian dealers and was lawfully exported during the 1960s and 1970s, before Egypt’s present antiquities legislation came into force.  The evidence disputing this is quite substantial and his statements have been challenged by investigators who say that several objects attributed to these older family collections were, in fact, freshly excavated and smuggled over the last decade.  In some transactions, allegedly fabricated ownership histories and backdated export documents were used in an attempt to give the objects a patina of legitimacy.  

Through his lawyers, Simonian has denied trafficking illicit antiquities.  He maintains that much of the material handled by his family was acquired by his brothers, Simon and Hagop Simonian, from Egyptian dealers and lawfully exported during the 1960s and 1970s, before Egypt’s current antiquities legislation came into force.  Investigators have challenged this account, citing substantial evidence that several objects attributed to these older family collections were recently excavated and smuggled.  In some transactions, allegedly fabricated ownership histories and falsified export documents were used to give the objects Simonian circulated a patina of legitimacy.

German police searched Simonian’s home and the Dionysos gallery in 2020.  On 20 July of that year, French investigating judges issued a European arrest warrant for him as authorities in Germany, France, and the United States examined antiquities sold to Louvre Abu Dhabi, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and other institutions and dealers.  His business associate, Roben Dib, would later be arrested in Paris on 22 March 2022 and formally indicted on charges of organised fraud, criminal association, and money laundering.

Simonian himself was indicted for organised fraud, money laundering, and criminal association in connection with the alleged smuggling of Egyptian artefacts and their sale to Louvre Abu Dhabi in 2016.   Arrested in Hamburg, he was extradited to France in September 2023 and detained for a period at La Santé prison in Paris.  German authorities reportedly declined to extradite his adult children because of their family circumstances, including the presence of young children.

While their father's case is ongoing, these Hamburg convictions are important because it moves part of this sprawling investigation beyond seizures, repatriations, and merely allegations.  It establishes criminal responsibility in relation to the proceeds of crime generated by specific museum sales and imposes the confiscation of €32 million, a sum reflecting the extraordinary profitability of the trade in illicit antiquities.  The case also demonstrates that antiquities laundering does not depend solely upon forged export permits. Institutional associations can themselves be used to give suspect objects a false appearance of legitimacy.

Objects associated with the Simonian family were once stored or exhibited at several German museums over extended periods of time.  In some cases, museums appear to have accepted privately owned antiquities into their facilities without complete documentation or conventional loan arrangements.  Their presence within respected German institutions could subsequently be cited as part of an object’s collecting and exhibition history.

The Simonian cases also illustrate why assumptions on the origins of high-value pieces without solid documentation is dangerous. A dealer's name in an ownership history is not a substitute for evidence of lawful excavation, export, and transfer of title.

For acquiring institutions, the lesson is not simply that forged documents can be convincing.  It is that due diligence must examine the origin of the objects AND documents, as the chronology they purport to establish, the identities and relationships of former owners, the movement of funds, and any gaps between an object’s alleged discovery and its first verifiable appearance say a lot about the object's legitimacy in a collection. 

These convictions of Abraham and Alice Simonian mark an important development, but they do not conclude the larger and wider investigation against their family member or his associated contacts.  Proceedings involving Serop Simonian, Roben Dib, Christophe Kunicki and others remain separate, and questions continue to surround objects known to have passed through this network and on into museums and private collections.

What the Hamburg judgment does establish is that the movement of illicit antiquities cannot be separated from the movement of the money these objects generate. This is hugely important.  It illustrates how false provenance can transform an illegally excavated object into a financially lucrativeaquisition.  Money laundering completes that transformation by converting the resulting sale proceeds into usable wealth.

In Hamburg, this court has now placed a substantial cost on both.

November 27, 2025

Thursday, November 27, 2025 - ,,,,,,, No comments

Red Flags Ignored? Seventeen Egyptian artefacts have been formally returned to Egypt from Australia

In a significant victory in the fight against illicit antiquities trafficking, seventeen Egyptian artefacts have been formally returned to the Government of the Arab Republic of Egypt in a handover held at the Australian Parliament House in Canberra on 26 November 2025, where officials marked the return as a milestone for cultural property protection.   Ambassador Nabil Habashi, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, presided over the ceremony, receiving the voluntarily repatriated artefacts from an Australian citizen in the city of Melbourne, in coordination with the Australian side.   Additionally, Egypt and Australia signed the documents for the return of 17 rare Pharaonic artefacts to Egypt.

As Per MP Tony Burk, "most of the objects were purchased online and imported into Australia from the United States of America on separate occasions. A number were detected during a 2019 global operation to combat cultural property trafficking led by INTERPOL and the World Customs Organisation." 


Among the items handed over were:
     • a wooden statue of Isis which dates to the Ptolemaic period (332—30 BCE)
     • a sarcophagus panel depicting the goddess Nut (also Nunut, Nuit), mother of 
      Isis (664—30 BCE)
     • a mummy case (1570—332 BCE)
     • an amulet of Ptah (664−30 BCE) 
     • a matching amulet headrest (1,070−323 BCE) 
     • a range of pottery vessels and funerary jars spanning epochs from Naqada II 
      (c. 3500 – 3200 BCE) to the Ptolemaic era (332 – 30 BCE)
     • and a mummy cartonnage ensemble for a child

These objects had been illicitly acquired and imported into Australia from the United States and were eventually seized under Australia’s Protection of Movable Cultural Heritage Act 1986, which enables the repatriation of cultural property illegally exported from its country of origin.  

Left Image: Artemis Auction sale photo
Right Image:  Restituted cartonnage ensemble

The child's cartonnage ensemble, used for adorning a mummified body, is interesting as it was put up for auction online by Teresa and Bob Dodge at Artemis Fine Arts auction house in Louisville, Colorado where it reportedly sold for $10,000 USD on 13 February 2020.  


The provenance listed for the auction of this artefact was listed as:

Private J.H. collection, Beaverton, Oregon, USA; ex-Relics of the Nile, Lexington, Kentucky; ex-private S.O. Simonian collection, Switzerland, acquired in Egypt and transported to Switzerland in 1972, where they have been held in storage since 2010

J.H. is Jeff Hallen, a part-time collector-dealer in Beaverton, Oregon who, according to his Facebook profile was once affiliated with Yanto Alexander Fine Art.  He has also stated in a social media group that he was selling his collection through Artemis in Colorado.   Relics of the Nile, is a virtual dealer operated by Mike Sigler who in turn has purchased and circulated ancient artefacts which have passed through the hands of at least one suspect dealer operating in Dubai.

One should also note that this online sale took place in 2020, the year after Serop Simonian's name was scandalously linked as the alleged trafficker of the Gold Coffin of Nedjemankh, seized by the D.A.’s Office in Manhattan and HSI New York from the Metropolitan Museum of Art as well as other problematic pieces.  Given the high visibility of that scandal, it is reasonable to question what level of due diligence, if any, was conducted by Dodge when Artemis purchased, or accepted, the cartonnage on consignment, before subsequently auctioning the suspect artefacts onward to the  collector in Melbourne.

Why This Matters for the Global Fight Against Cultural Heritage Crime

The repatriation of these objects highlights a few critical truths for the broader field of cultural heritage protection:

It demonstrates that trafficked artefacts can surface and travel anywhere in the world, even in countries far removed from their origin, and that the illicit trade in cultural property often spans multiple continents, from excavation zones in post-conflict source countries, through transit countries, and on to primary and secondary market countries changing hands multiple times in sales and exports before arriving to private collectors, 

Laws like Australia’s Protection of Movable Cultural Heritage Act, combined with effective enforcement at borders and cooperation between national authorities, is what makes a real difference in recovering cultural property for source nations. And restitution is more than a symbolic act, it allows communities to reclaim part of their collective heritage.  For organisations like Association for Research into Crimes against Art (ARCA), this case serves as a concrete reminder that global vigilance, cross-border collaboration, and robust legal frameworks are essential if we are to put even a small dent in the tide of illicit heritage trafficking.

As we reflect on this satisfactory outcome, we should ask ourselves: how many more objects remain untraced, circulating anonymously through auction houses, private collections, or illicit networks? And if I found it this easy to trace the provenance of just one of these restituted objects, why is it that dealers and auction houses continye to walk around with one eye closed for the sake of a sale? 

By:  Lynda Albertson

March 27, 2025

Thursday, March 27, 2025 - ,,,,,,,, No comments

From Pretrial Release to Disappearance: Where is Hamburg-based dealer Serop Simonian?

Having surrendered in Germany in connection with a multi-country investigation into illicit antiquities trafficking, Serop Simonian was extradited to France, where he was indicted on 15 September 2023 for fraud, organized gang money laundering, and criminal association, in a complex where he is accused of selling more than €50 million worth of illegally excavated antiquities.

Placed in pre-trial detention while his case made its way through the French courts, his French lawyer, Chloé Arnoux, requested that the courts consider pretrial release under supervision, citing Simonian’s advanced age (born in 1942) and his deteriorating health.  Approaching his 83rd birthday, and sensitive to the fact that his attorney had listed a range of health problems—including osteoarthritis, intestinal issues, migraines, and depression—a liberty and detention judge signed off on his release from La Santé Prison, located in the Montparnasse district of the 14th arrondissement in southern Paris.

According to an article first published by Emmanuel Fansten in the French newspaper Libération, the judge granted his pretrial release on 31 December 2024. The judge ordered Simonian to report once a month to the Hamburg police station and not to leave Germany, except in relation to his upcoming court case.

Given the gravity of the octogenarian’s alleged crimes—and the extensive evidence uncovered by Junalco, France’s National Jurisdiction for the Fight Against Organized Crime, linking Simonian to a criminal network that trafficked looted Egyptian artifacts to prestigious institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Louvre Abu Dhabi—the General Prosecutor of the Paris Court of Appeal formally challenged his release from custody. Citing Simonian’s significant financial resources and extensive international connections, the prosecutor argued that he posed a serious flight risk and urged the court to reconsider its decision to ensure he remained within the jurisdiction of French authorities.

Two weeks after Simonian was granted pretrial liberty, the investigating chamber held a hearing, which ultimately reversed the earlier release decision and ordered that he report back to La Santé prison. Unfortunately, by this point, he had disappeared.

Simonian's case illustrates that age is no barrier to flight, particularly when financial means, international connections, and open borders make travel easier.

One well-known example of a senior citizen on the lam is Israeli-American businessman Jacob “Kobi” Alexander, the former CEO of Comverse Technology, who was charged in 2006 with securities fraud and other financial crimes. While out on bail, Alexander transferred millions of dollars overseas and fled to Namibia, a nation that has no extradition treaty with the U.S. He lived there for a decade before voluntarily returning to the U.S. in 2016 to face sentencing.

Another case is that of Leonard “Fat Leonard” Francis, the defense contractor at the center of one of the largest bribery scandals in U.S. military history. Francis, who was in his late 60s, was granted house arrest pending trial on the grounds that he was being treated for kidney cancer. However, while awaiting sentencing, he cut off his GPS ankle monitor in September 2022 and fled the country. Authorities later captured him in Venezuela, but his escape underscored how older fugitives can exploit compassionate release during ongoing judicial proceedings.

The flights from justice of these individuals, as well as Simonian's (whose whereabouts remain unknown), highlight how gray-haired, white-collar criminals with the financial resources to do so can evade justice just as easily as their younger counterparts.

Update:  28 March 2025 Journalists with The Art Newspaper have spoken with Simonian's lawyer, Chloé Arnoux,  who, breaking her initial silence stated that the problematic dealer was now at an assisted living facility near his family in Hamburg.   In another article Arnoux is quoted as saying "He was not notified in a language he understands that there was an appeal against his release."

No mention was made however explaining why she failed to explain this to her client given she would have been privy to the Court's decision as Simonian's counsel, or why, up until now he had not obeyed the French ruling to return to prison to await his trial. 

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

April 26, 2023

Wednesday, April 26, 2023 - , No comments

The Amelia Conference - June 23-25, 2023 - Registration is now open


Conference Date:  
June 23-25, 2023
Location: Amelia, Italy

Celebrating more than a decade of academic conferences addressing art and antiquities crimes, ARCA will host its 12th summer interdisciplinary art crime conference the weekend of June 23-25, 2023.

Known as the Amelia Conference, the Association's weekend-long event aims to facilitate a critical appraisal of art crimes and the protection of art and cultural heritage and brings together researchers and academics, police, and individuals from many of the allied professions that interact with the art market, coming together to discuss issues of common concern. 

The Amelia Conference is an annual ARCA event, held in the historic city of Amelia, in the heart of Italy's Umbria region where ARCA also plays host to its Postgraduate Certificate Program in Art Crime and Cultural Heritage Protection.

The conference includes a weekend full of multidisciplinary panel sessions, and plenty of time to meet others who are working towards the protection and recovery of cultural heritage.


Confirmed Presentations (additional names will be added as speakers confirm)


Dutch Perspectives on Police Specialisation in Art Theft
Richard Bronswijk,
Head, Dutch Politie Art Crime Unit

"Proactive Protective Training – A Crime Reduction Strategy for All"
Frank Andrew Davis, MSc., CSyP, FSyI, CPP.
Managing Director, Trident Manor Limited

"Cultural Heritage:  The Canary in the Coal Mine"
Colonel Andrew Scott Dejesse
US Army CENTCOM CCJ5, Program Director, Strategic Initiatives Group 
Gabriella Corey
Restitution Researcher, Christie's New York

"The Mitigation of Protests and Activism in our Museums"
Wesley De Smet
Ghent Museum of Fine Arts
Kim Covent
Ghent Police

"Non-Fungible Tokens: Art and Crime in a Virtual World"
Saskia Hufnagel, Ph.D.
Reader in Criminal Law, School of Law, Queen Mary University of London
Colin King, Ph.D.
Professor, Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, London

"The Fate of the Adolphe Schloss Collection – Lessons learned from provenance research during the Pandemic"
Marc J. Masurovsky, MA 
Co-founder, Holocaust Art Restitution Project (HARP), Washington DC, USA 
Claudia Hofstee, MA 
Independent Art Historian and Provenance Researcher, Amsterdam, Netherlands 
Saida S. Hasanagic, MA / Postgraduate Certificate in Art Crime and Cultural Heritage Protection (ARCA)
Independent Art Historian and Provenance Researcher, London, United Kingdom

"The destruction, laundry and sale of Egypt’s cultural heritage"
Marcel Marée, Ph.D.
Assistant Keeper, Egypt and Sudan, The British Museum

"Papyrus and Provenance, solving more than an ancient puzzle: The case of the Artemidorus papyrus and its controversial seller, Serop Simonian"
Roberta Mazza, Ph.D.
Papyrologist and ancient historian, University of Bologna, Cultural Heritage Department - Ravenna 

"Investigation and Prosecution of Museum Thefts from a Half-Century Ago"
K.T. Newton, J.D.
Assistant United States Attorney, United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania

"Title Forthcoming"
Loes Schouten
Senior Publishing Director, Brill

"Presumed Guilty: Is it still possible to create a private collection of archeology?"
Massimo Sterpi, J.D.
Partner and Head of the IP and Art Law at Gianni & Origoni, Rome

"Museums: Accountability?"
Yasmine Zahir
Barrister-at-Law, Liberty Chambers, Hong Kong 


Registration:
To register for this event, please go to our Eventbrite page located here.



Conference Networking Events

Saturday and Sunday's conference sessions include complimentary morning and afternoon coffee breaks, with coffee, juices and light pastries or afternoon hors d'oeuvres to allow time for networking. 

Friday, June 23rd - James Bond themed Icebreaker Cocktail "Cena" at the Country House Monastero le Grazie  
NB: To attend this event, please select the correct registration payment option during your conference registration.

ARCA will open its conference weekend with this relaxing icebreaker cocktail at the Country House Monastero le Grazie, an enchanting centuries-old Cistercian monastery adjacent to the Church and Sanctuary of Santa Maria delle Grazie, built in 1300.  This unique conference venue is located in the hamlet of Foce, just a few kilometers outside the centro storico of Amelia and will also play host to Saturday's Gala Dinner. 


Saturday, August 6 - Cloister Buffet Luncheon in the centro storico of Amelia**
Saturday, August 6 - Italian Slow Food Conference Dinner at Il Ristoro del Priore, Country House Monastero le Grazie  (Please RSVP by 20 June 2023). **
Sunday, August 7 - Cloister Buffet Luncheon - in the centro storico of Amelia**


** Ticketing to the optional Gala Dinner and Conference Lunches can be paid for directly at the conference venues:

Please note: The Amelia Conference has sold out in 2019 and 2022.  We recommend that those interested in attending reserve their tickets in advance to ensure availability.   Seating is limited and fire-safety and COVID prevention rules prevent us from overbooking.

If you have any questions regarding this conference, please contact the ARCA conference organisation team at:

italy.conference [at] artcrimeresearch.org

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