Hedge fund founder Steinhardt will return looted antiquities

NEW YORK » Billionaire hedge fund manager Michael Steinhardt has agreed to turn over $70 million worth of stolen antiquities and will be subject to an unprecedented lifetime ban on acquiring antiquities, the Manhattan district attorney announced Monday.

In return, Steinhardt, a philanthropist who is chair of the Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life and cofounder of Birthright Israel, will not face criminal charges for acquiring pieces that were illegally smuggled out of 11 countries, prosecutors said.

“For decades, Michael Steinhardt displayed a rapacious appetite for plundered artifacts without concern for the legality of his actions, the legitimacy of the pieces he bought and sold, or the grievous cultural damage he wrought across the globe,” District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said in a news release.