2021 Annual Report

In honor of World Heritage Day, the Antiquities Coalition looks back on the work we have done over 2021 to continue to help safeguard cultural heritage from crime, conflict, and terrorism.

Letter From Chairman Deborah Lehr

As we hopefully reach towards the light at the end of the COVID-19 tunnel—with the world starved for human contact, education, entertainment, and inspiration—the arts will be needed more than ever. 

It thus gives me great pleasure to thank you again for joining the Antiquities Coalition in our common mission to preserve our past for the next generation. 

Around the world it remains a time of great challenges for heritage. While the pandemic shuttered above board dealers, galleries, and auction houses, the international black market has boomed. Whether or not cultural racketeers succeed in a post-COVID world will hinge on how governments, law enforcement, museums, and—perhaps most of all—responsible players in the art market rise to these new challenges. 

The following report details some examples of how the Antiquities Coalition is working to protect our world heritage and the legitimate market from criminals who seek to capitalize on this global crisis.

We thank you for your support.

Sincerely,

2021 Highlights

Developed a Comprehensive Roadmap for the G20 to Support Its Fight Against Cultural Racketeering

Our Report and Action Plan is Already Being Implemented, As We Continue to Serve as an Ongoing Resource to the World’s Leading Economic Forum

The Antiquities Coalition is spearheading an international effort to support the Group of 20 as it tackles transnational crime in the $50 billion global art market—still the largest unregulated market in the world. 

On October 28, we released Safeguarding Cultural Heritage in Conflict Zones: A Roadmap for the G20 to Combat the Illicit Trade in Cultural Objects. This evidenced-based report, drafted by leading experts, put forward nine concrete steps to strengthen global policy against the looting and trafficking of cultural objects. Its publication came as the G20 began its annual Summit in Rome, where for the first time, heads of state and government from the twenty largest economies gathered to close art market loopholes. In honor of Italy’s leadership, the document opened with a foreword from Brigadier General Roberto Riccardi, head of the Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Cultural Heritage, widely recognized as the world’s foremost art squad. 

Under the Italian Presidency, the G20 prioritized making culture part of the post-COVID recovery, as well as incorporating it into the institution’s broader work to secure economic integrity. As part of this focus, leading up to the Rome Summit, Italy organized a series of public programs to identify risks facing global markets from art crime, including smuggling, money laundering, and terrorist financing. On April 9, Deborah Lehr, Antiquities Coalition Founder and Chairman, spoke at the first of these events, joining other leaders from government, law enforcement, and civil society—one of the few Americans invited to participate.

Together, G20 member states make up 90% of the worldwide art and antiquities market, worth an estimated $45 billion of the total $50.1 billion. Their coordinated action will thus automatically provide a global solution to what has been an intractable global problem. As Indonesia takes over the leadership of the G20, the Antiquities Coalition is continuing to serve as an ongoing resource to policymakers, while urging coordinated action to combat cultural racketeering.

“Experts Urge G20 to Tackle Illicit Antiquities Trade – An international coalition of experts has released a new report detailing nine steps the G20 should take in order to crack down on the trade of illicit antiquities. The recommendations for strengthening global policy include creating a roadmap to tackle the problem on a national and international level and identifying and strengthening weak links. ” Feature in ArtNet News Weekly’s “Movers and Shakers”

Protected the Multi-Billion Dollar American Art Market from Criminals

Following Our Three-Year Advocacy Campaign, Congress Applied Anti-Money Laundering Laws to Antiquities Dealers

With the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (NDAA), which passed on January 1, 2021, Congress has begun to close loopholes that make the American art market one of the largest unregulated markets in the world.

The bill, H.R. 6395, removed antiquities dealers’ current exemption from what are now standard anti-money laundering (AML) laws and regulations under the U.S. Bank Secrecy Act (BSA). Specifically, it added ​ those “engaged in the trade” of ancient art and artifacts to the BSA’s list of high risk professions and industries that must assist the U.S. government in preventing and detecting financial crimes. While what this requires in practice is still being determined, the BSA has generally sought to reinforce good business practices like performing customer due diligence and record keeping, as well as anonymously reporting suspicious activity to the relevant authorities. In addition to expected businesses like banks, the statute already applies to sellers of precious metals, stones, jewels, automobiles, planes, and boats, as well as to casinos, real estate professionals, travel agencies, and pawn shops.

The Antiquities Coalition has been a key voice pushing for this much needed change since 2019, when we launched our Financial Crimes Task Force, the first of its kind in the United States. This multi-stakeholder initiative’s 2020 report, Reframing U.S. Policy on the Art Market: Recommendations for Combating Financial Crimes, detailed threats facing the American art market from money laundering, terrorist financing, sanctions violations, and related crimes. It also provided 44 solutions to address these challenges—foremost of which was adding dealers in cultural property to the BSA.

The Antiquities Coalition is proud to have consulted Congress on H.R. 6395, and while it is an important first step, it is just a start. There are many additional actions that can be taken to safeguard our national security, economic integrity, and responsible collectors, dealers, galleries, auction houses, and museums. We are continuing to push for responsible markets and trade practices, by educating stakeholders and serving as an ongoing resource to the Hill, the U.S. Department of Treasury, and law enforcement.

“By applying anti-money laundering protections to antiquities dealers, Congress has taken an important first step to fight back, but this is just a first step. There is much more the U.S. government can—and should—do in partnership with the private sector to combat criminal misuse of the art market.” Deborah Lehr

Exposed the Secret World of Cultural Racketeering in the Pandora Papers

The Antiquities Coalition Put Cultural Racketeering on the Radar of the Largest Journalistic Collaboration in History

Bad actors are exploiting the multi-billion dollar art market, using regulatory loopholes to traffic antiquities, launder money, and then hide their ill-gotten gains. 

That was one of the many revelations from the Pandora Papers, the nearly twelve million leaked documents published in a major exposé this October, laying bare the hidden assets, tax avoidance, and financial crimes of some of the world's richest and most powerful people. These included Douglas Latchford, who masterminded a transnational network that trafficked “blood antiquities” from Cambodia’s Killing Fields onto the global art market, and then hid millions of dollars in profits through the misuse of offshore accounts, tax havens, and trusts. 

The Latchford coverage—which made front page headlines on multiple continents, including The Washington Post, BBC, Guardian, Süddeutsche Zeitung, ABC Australia, French News 24, Business Insider Magazine, Hyperallergic, The Hill, and others —built on years of independent research and outside collaborations by the Antiquities Coalition and our team. Executive Director Tess Davis contributed to the investigation, working extensively over the last year and a half with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). She was quoted in four breaking articles across three platforms, with another quote in a followup article in the Wall Street Journal. 

The Pandora Papers unmasking of Douglas Latchford is already having a concrete impact. The Denver Art Museum has agreed to return four statues linked to him, while pressure is increasing on dozens of ​ institutions implicated. And, while it is too late for Latchford to face justice in a courtroom (he died in 2020), the U.S. government has publicly pledged that its investigation into his associates is ongoing.

When the Antiquities Coalition started our work in 2014, public policy treated cultural racketeering as a white collar and victimless crime—if it treated it as a crime at all. With high-profile and deeply-reported stories like the Pandora Papers, we are working hard to correct this narrative. We’re grateful for the team of journalists who are doing the same, and particularly those who broke this story at the ICIJ.

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