Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., announced today the historic return of 36 antiquities, collectively valued at more than $5 million, to the people of Syria. 

“Repatriation ceremonies are a powerful reminder that preserving cultural heritage transcends any border or nationality,” said District Attorney Bragg. “This was an incredibly complicated, multi-faceted investigation that could only have been accomplished through close partnerships that spanned the globe, and I thank everyone involved for their tireless effort and dedication.”

“Through Syrian-American cooperation, a part of Syria’s history is finally returning home thanks to the efforts of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. This achievement demonstrates how mutual respect and a shared commitment to protecting cultural heritage can build lasting bridges between our two countries,” said Mohamad Naser Kanatri, Chargé d’Affaires of the Embassy of the Syrian Arab Republic in Washington, D.C.

One monumental stone relief looted from the ancient site of Palmyra and 14 extraordinary mosaics looted from a Syria Roman villa returned in today’s ceremony are among 31 Middle Eastern and North African antiquities allegedly trafficked into New York by Georges Lotfi and seized by the Office’s Antiquities Trafficking Unit. The Palmyran Relief was trafficked from Palmyra when the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS organized, facilitated, and controlled the systematic looting of archaeological sites in Syria. Lotfi, a Lebanese pharmacist turned antiquities trafficker is the subject of an arrest warrant obtained by this Office in 2022, as well as a Red Notice issued in 2023 by the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL). [1]

In addition, 13 pieces today were seized from the Metropolitan Museum of Art (“Met”). Since 2017, the Office has seized 402 antiquities valued at $98.7 from the Met.

4 antiquities returned today were among the 180 antiquities valued at $70 million that this Office seized from Michael Steinhardt, one of the world’s largest ancient art collectors. The Office’s multi-year, multi-national criminal investigation into Steinhardt resulted in the return of those pieces of cultural heritage recovered from his collection, and in conjunction with his 2021 Deferred Prosecution Agreement, a first-of-its-kind lifetime ban on Steinhardt acquiring additional antiquities.

One of the pieces was trafficked by Eugene Alexander, who was convicted by the Office in July 2025.

Highlights of the items returned today include:

• Telete and Eros Mosaic: this monumental section of mosaic flooring dates to the 3^rd century B.C.E. and depicts the mythological wedding of the god Telete and Eros, accompanied by Aphrodite and the Three Graces. It was created using hundreds of tiny blocks of colored stone, known as tesserae. The Office seized this mosaic along with 22 other stolen Lebanese and Syrian mosaics in July 2021 from a storage unit owned by Lotfi.
• Palmyran Relief: this monumental carved limestone sculpture representing a reclining male surrounded by a woman and three children is a funerary relief crafted in the ancient city of Palmyra in the late second century CE. Once lining the walls of the burial chamber of a Palmyrene tomb, it  weighs more than 1,000 pounds and appears to have been hacked out of a wall with care taken to avoid damage to the various carved figures. It was removed from Palmyra and smuggled to Dubai before Palmyra was destroyed by ISIS between 2015 and 2017.

• Three Syro-Hittite Female Idols: Dating to the 2^nd millennium B.C.E., the three female Syro-Hittite Idols were crafted in northwest Syria. All three idols first appeared on the art market in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s in the possession of the New York-based gallery owner Edward Merrin—who was later convicted in federal court of antiquities-trafficking related crimes—and then sold to Steinhardt. As set forth in the Steinhardt Statement of Facts filed in Court by this Office in 2021 as part of Steinhardt’s DPA, Merrin provided Steinhardt with a photograph of one of the Idols showing it broken into multiple fragments and covered in dirt just after it had been looted.

Pictured: “Syro-Hittite Female Idol”

This Office’s Antiquities Trafficking Unit has now convicted 18 individuals of cultural-property-related crimes; recovered more than 6,400 cultural treasures, including rare books, works of art, and antiquities, valued at $495 million; and returned more than 6,200 of those so far to 40 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 Attorneys Taylor Holland and Yuval Simchi-Levi; Investigative Analysts Giuditta Giardini; District Attorney Investigator John Paul Labbat; retired Department of Homeland Security Special Agent Robert Mancene; and former Investigative Analysts Michael Chapin, Charlotte Looram, and Daniel Healey.

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[1] The charges contained in the arrest warrant are merely allegations and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. All factual recitations are derived from documents filed in court and statements made on the record in court.