Tech billionaire surrenders relics sold by indicted dealer
Dozens of ancient relics hacked from Cambodian temples and other historical sites and allegedly trafficked to the United States are headed home after a prominent tech billionaire who co-founded Netscape agreed to return them.
The 35 relics from James H. Clark’s private collection include a monumental sandstone sculpture that once adorned an ancient Khmer capital city and bronze sculptures from near Angkor Wat. The items were obtained more than a decade ago, according to a complaint filed in Manhattan federal court, from the late Douglas Latchford, a British art dealer indicted in 2019 and accused of trafficking hundreds of antiquities from Southeast Asia.
In October, as part of the Pandora Papers investigation,
the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and other media partners traced dozens of Latchfordlinked items to museums, galleries and private collectors and revealed offshore trusts used by Latchford to hold money and art.
In the wake of the investigation, the Denver Art Museum agreed to forfeit four relics tied to Latchford and New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art contacted federal authorities to discuss some of its holdings tied to Latchford. Other museums identified in the investigation have declined to say whether they will return Latchford-linked relics.
‘‘For the Cambodian people, these lost treasures are of enormous importance,’’ said Bradley J. Gordon, legal adviser to the Cambodian Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts. ‘‘Their return is expected to bring prosperity, serenity and pride to Cambodia.’’
While the complaint identifies the person returning the art only as a ‘‘collector,’’ Clark confirmed in an interview with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and
that the pieces had been in his private collection. A 2011 Latchford book also attributes eight relics that match photos of those now in federal custody to Clark’s collection.
Clark, 77, said he paid Latchford roughly US$35 million (NZ$51 million) for the now-forfeited pieces, which came mostly from Cambodia. He said he had displayed them in a Miami Beach penthouse he owned for a few years before moving them to a Palm Beach storage unit, where they remained for more than a decade before he turned them over to authorities. ‘‘I kept wanting to bring parts of it out,’’ Clark said of the collection. ‘‘The decorator we’d use for any place we had, he wasn’t excited about it.’’
The planned repatriation follows increasing efforts by US and Cambodian officials to locate and claim hundreds of items stolen from the country amid decades of war and tumult that saw one of the most destructive looting sprees in history. Latchford, according to US authorities, played a key role in the trafficking of hundreds of antiquities, many with deep religious and cultural significance.
Prosecutors said in the court filing, known as a forfeiture complaint, that Latchford deceived the collector about the origin of the 35 allegedly stolen works. The filing states Latchford made false statements to US Customs and Border Protection agents to illegally import the goods.