Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., today announced the recent return of 20 cultural objects, collectively valued at more than $100,000 to the people of Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Vanuatu, and New Zealand. The Office returned the objects to each country in six separate repatriation ceremonies this month.
The objects were recovered pursuant to multiple criminal investigations targeting Southeast Asian cultural heritage. All of them had been laundered through museum donations in an alleged tax-fraud scheme by indicted antiquities trafficker Subhash Kapoor.
For more than a decade, the District Attorney’s Antiquities Trafficking Unit (ATU) have investigated KAPOOR and his co-conspirators for the alleged illegal looting, exportation, and sale of artifacts from numerous countries in South and Southeast Asia. The D.A.’s Office obtained an arrest warrant for KAPOOR in 2012. [1]
In November 2019, KAPOOR and seven of his co-defendants were indicted by this Office for their conspiracy to traffic stolen antiquities. Based on evidence developed by this Office, KAPOOR was convicted in 2022 in India for his trafficking activities. Five of KAPOOR’S co-defendants have already been convicted by this Office, including two of his indicted co-defendants as well as three other traffickers who had been charged separately. KAPOOR’S extradition from India is pending.
“I am thrilled that we are able to make these historic returns,” said District Attorney Bragg. “These incredible objects have been in New York illegally for far too long, and I commend our team for their work on this sprawling investigation.”
The Office returned 10 antiquities to Papua New Guinea, collectively valued at almost $50,000, including a Suspension Hook, dating to the early 20th century, which depicts a bird and a bowlegged male figure. This object originates from Iatmul people of northern New Guinea..
The Office returned 3 artifacts to the Solomon Islands, collectively valued at more than $30,000, including a Ceremonial Bowl, dating to the first half of the 20th century. The Bowl is carved in the shape of a boat and features pearl shell inlay distinctive to the Solomon Islands.
“The Permanent Mission of Solomon Islands to the United Nations thanks the Antiquities Trafficking Unit of the Manhattan DA’s Office for its hard work and effort in retrieving items that represent culturally valued totems and acknowledges the partnership in ensuring that they are securely and safely in Solomon Islands’ custody,” according to the Permanent Mission of Solomon Islands to the United Nations.
The Office returned 3 objects to Vanuatu, collectively valued at almost $20,000, including a Slit Drum from the early- to mid-20th century. The Drum is a 7-foot ceremonial drum made from the trunk of a single tree and features a carved face, which typically represents an ancestral figure.
The Office returned a Waka Huia to New Zealand, valued at almost $10,000. The Waka Huia dates to the 19th century and would have been used to store precious objects.
“We greatly appreciate the Antiquities Trafficking Unit’s work to locate and return this item to the New Zealand Government so we may return the taonga to its appropriate and rightful home. We are grateful for your support in this,” said the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
The Office returned a War Club to Samoa, valued at almost $5,000, which dates to the early- to mid-19th century and features a distinctly Samoan saw-toothed edge on both sides.
“The Embassy of the Independent State of Samoa to the United States welcomes the repatriation of an ancestral Samoan war club, made possible through the assistance of the Antiquities Trafficking Unit of New York County District Attorney’s Office,” according to H.E. Fatumanava-o-Upolu III Dr. Pa’olelei Luteru, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Independent State of Samoa to the United States in New York City.
Later this month, the Office will return two 19th-century Clubs to Tonga, collectively valued collectively at almost $10,000. These dense, intricately carved clubs would have been used primarily as markers of prestige and status in Tonga culture.
This Office’s Antiquities Trafficking Unit has now convicted 18 individuals of cultural-property-related crimes; recovered more than 6,200 cultural treasures, including rare books, works of art, and antiquities, valued at more than $485 million; and returned more than 5,930 of those so far to 38 countries. The extradition of another 7 alleged traffickers is pending.
The investigations were conducted by Chief of the Antiquities Trafficking Unit and Senior Trial Counsel Matthew Bogdanos along with Assistant District Attorney James Edwards-Lebair; Investigative Analyst Michael Chapin; District Attorney Investigator John Paul Labbat; Special Agents Brenton Easter and Robert Fromkin of Homeland Security Investigations; and former Investigative Analyst Charlotte Looram.
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[1] Any charges referenced herein that have not already resulted in convictions are merely allegations, and any individuals not convicted are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. All factual recitations are derived from documents filed in court and statements made on the court record.