The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office announced the recent repatriation of antiquities to three countries, including 31 antiquities, some dating to the 6^th century B.C.E., to the people of Italy; two 6^th century C.E. Visigoth pendants to the people of Spain; and a 17^th century C.E. Jesuit manuscript to the people of Hungary.

The objects were recovered pursuant to criminal investigations into multiple antiquities trafficking networks involving, among others, convicted traffickers Giacomo Medici, Giovanni Franco Becchina, Robin Symes, Robert Hecht, Eugene Alexander and alleged trafficker Edoardo Almagià.

• This Office has received an arrest warrant for Edoardo Almagià, awaiting extradition from Italy. To date, this Office has executed 37 seizures of 295 objects trafficked by Almagià, collectively valued at more than $6 million.
• Eugene Alexander was convicted by this Office on July 8, 2025, of Conspiracy in the Fifth Degree to Commit Antiquities Trafficking. To date, this Office has executed 8 seizures of 69 antiquities valued at $32.9 million—some of which were repatriated yesterday—that had been trafficked pursuant to a conspiracy involving Eugene Alexander and Michael Ward, who was convicted in September 2023. Alexander also forfeited $750,000.

Among the antiquities repatriated to Italy on August 5, 2025, are the following:

• Head of Alexander: this 1^st-century C.E. marble head depicts Alexander the Great as Helios, the sun god. Excavated from the Basilica Emilia in the Roman Forum, the Head was stolen from the Antiquarium Forense Museum, a state-run archaeological museum in Rome. After being laundered through several individuals and institutions in New York, it was acquired in good faith by Alan Safani in 2017. The Office seized the piece pursuant to a warrant, and Safani eventually agreed to surrender the Head to this Office so that it could be repatriated.
• Terracotta Column-Krater: these 61 fragments of a terracotta column-krater attributed to the Lydos Painter date to 580 B.C.E. Their history illustrates the complex lengths to which smugglers will go to traffic their looted antiquities—breaking objects into fragments to sell the pieces individually and bringing these pieces to market over the course of several years. Pieces were loaned by Robin Symes to the Getty Museum; donated by Robert Hecht to the Princeton Art Museum; and donated by Jonathan Rosen to the Met. By 1997, the Met acquired all the fragments. In 2025, The ATU seized all 61 fragments from the Met.
• Nine Tarentine Objects: a Limestone Column Capital, Capital Fragment, a Corinthian Column Capital, a Pair of Terracotta Plaques with Glass Inlays, Three Fragments of a Limestone Relief, and a Limestone Relief with the Figure of a Woman. These nine Tarentine objects date to the 4^th and 3^rd centuries B.C.E. and originate from tombs in southern Italy. In 1995, the Capital Fragment and the Limestone Column were donated to the Met with no prior provenance. The remaining seven objects were unknown until the mid-1990s, when they first appeared together in the possession of Robin Symes with the only provenance being the ubiquitous “English collection” often used to conceal the real sources of looted antiquities. The Met purchased all seven objects from Symes between 1996 and 1999. The ATU seized all nine Tarentine objects from the Met in 2025.

Fabrizio Di Michele, Consul General of Italy in New York, stated: “I wish to express our profound gratitude to the Antiquities Trafficking Unit of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and the Carabinieri Comando per la Tutela del Patrimonio Culturale. Their highly effective partnership in combating the illicit trade of cultural property has culminated in another important restitution to Italy of 31 artifacts. These items—stolen, illegally unearthed, or clandestinely exported—hold an estimated value of over 4 million dollars and are of immeasurable scientific and cultural importance for our country.”

On July 23, 2025, this Office repatriated to Hungary the following antiquity:

• Nervus Opticus: This manuscript, Nervus Opticus Sive Tractatus Theoricus in Tres Libros, was published by the Jesuit Zacharias Traber in 1675. During World War II, the manuscript was illegally removed from Eötvös József Collegium’s library in Budapest. The investigation used multispectral imaging to identify that a stamp bearing the name of the Eötvös József Collegium had been removed to help launder the piece. The ATU seized the manuscript a New York-based rare books dealer in 2025.

“We highly value and appreciate the efforts of the Antiquities Trafficking Unit of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and we highly value and appreciate that this is the first time in our relationship that such an action takes place.” said Peter Szijjártó Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade. “We Hungarians and Americans do share many common issues in our histories, as we are both having a love and clear commitment towards freedom and liberty and sovereignty. And on many occasions in our histories, we were even ready to fight for those, and on many occasions, we have landed our support to each other in these fights. So we are two nations which are showing a respect towards history, towards tradition and towards heritage as well.”

On July 24, 2025, this Office repatriated to Spain the following two antiquities:

• A Harness Pendant with Confronted Beasts and a Harness Pendant, with Mounted Horseman: These bronze Visigoth harness pendants date to the 6^th century C.E.  Trafficked by Robin Symes, both Harness Pendants were sold to the Met in 1990 with no prior provenance. The ATU seized the Harness Pendants from the Met in 2025.

Marta de Blas Mayordomo, Consul General of Spain said, “The Kingdom of Spain thanks once again the excellent work and diligence of the Antiquities Trafficking Unit of the NY District Attorney’s Office in the recovery of these two Spanish antiquities and highlights the excellent cooperation between the two countries in the fight against trafficking in cultural property.”

In addition to the above repatriation ceremonies, the ATU also returned 26 antiquities, valued at $2.1 million, to the people of India. A formal repatriation ceremony for the return of these antiquities will follow at the Indian Consulate in New York.

During District Attorney Bragg’s tenure, the ATU has recovered 2,375 antiquities stolen from 46 countries and valued at more than $255 million. Since its creation, the ATU has convicted 18 individuals of cultural property-related crimes, recovered more than 6,060 antiquities valued at more than $476 million, and has returned more than 5,700 of them so far to 30 countries.

The investigations were conducted by Chief of the Antiquities Trafficking Unit and Senior Trial Counsel Matthew Bogdanos, and Assistant District Attorneys Jacqueline Studley and Edward Smith, Investigative Analysts Giuditta Giardini, Hilary Chassé, Charlotte Looram, Grace Vieaux, and Michael Chapin; District Attorney Investigator John Paul Labbat; and Special Agent Robert Mancene of Homeland Security Investigations. Both the District Attorney’s Office and the Republic of Italy would like to thank Alan Safani, David Schoen, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art for their assistance and cooperation with our investigations.

###