Former Louvre director charged with money laundering and antiquities trafficking

A scandal ripped through the halls of Paris’ most famous museum when authorities charged the former director of the Louvre with money laundering and organized fraud in connection to antiquities trafficking.

This prompted the art museum to launch on Monday a civil action so that it could take part in the investigation as a civil party.

“The Musée du Louvre would like to emphasize the utmost, unwavering and ongoing commitment of its scientific experts in the struggle against illicit artwork trafficking,” the museum said in a statement. “The work accomplished at both a national and an international level remains a priority in order to thwart ever more active and increasingly organized crime.”

Jean-Luc Martinez, who, after his tenure at the Louvre ended in 2021, became France’s special ambassador for cooperation on cultural heritage and is accused of overseeing the Louvre Abu Dhabi’s acquisition of smuggled Egyptian antiquities.

The piece in question was a pink granite stele, depicting pharaoh Tutankhamun – aka King Tut – purchased for over U.S. $9 million in 2016, according to f24news.

Roben Dib, the German-Lebanese art dealer who helped broker the sale was arrested in Germany, and extradited to Paris in March.

According to the Art Newspaper, Martinez is accused of dismissing out-of-hand concerns of smuggling from egyptologists.

The stele was sold to the Louvre Abu Dhabi by Christophe Kunicki, an art dealer who has since been charged with widespread trafficking of looted antiquities.

Mathew Bagdnanos, head of the Manhattan District Attorney's anti-antiquities trafficking unit, has said that Kunicki and Dib constitute “an international antiquities trafficking ring,” the Art newspaper reported.

The Louvre is far from the only museum to be accused of involvement in antiquities trafficking.

https://www.occrp.org/en/daily/16395-former-louvre-director-charged-with-money-laundering-and-antiquities-trafficking