Medici's Conviction for Antiquities Smuggling Upheld
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| Euphronios (painter) and Euxitheos (potter). Red-figure Kalyx Krater: Sleep and Death Lifting the Body of Sarpedon and Athenian Youths Arming Themselves for Battle. Greek, Attic, ca. 515 B.C. Terracotta. H. 45.7 cm (18 in.). Republic of Italy. Photograph courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. |
By STAN PARCHIN
July 16, 2009
Bloomberg News reported on July 15, 2009 that an Italian appeals court in Rome upheld the December 2004 conviction of art dealer Giacomo Medici, 71, for smuggling, handling stolen antiquities and conspiracy. His original prison sentence by Judge Guglielmo Muntoni was reduced from 10 to eight years, but the 10 million euro ($14 million) fine still stands. Medici, free during the appeal process, plans to take the ruling to Italy's highest court.
Photographs from investigators' 1995 raid of Medici's warehouse in Geneva, Switzerland were used as evidence in the Italian government's successful attempts to repatriate illegally acquired artifacts from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the J. Paul Getty Museum and other institutions.
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