[Tlc] NYT: Papers Show Wider Focus in Inquiry of Artifacts

[Michael Montesano]

http://www.nytimes.com/

January 30, 2008 
Papers Show Wider Focus in Inquiry of Artifacts 
By EDWARD WYATT
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/w/edward_wya
tt/index.html?inline=nyt-per>  
LOS ANGELES - A federal investigation into the smuggling and sale of
looted Asian and American Indian antiquities has expanded to include
stolen artifacts from Central America; a collector who is on the board
of the Art Institute of Chicago
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/a/art
_institute_of_chicago/index.html?inline=nyt-org> ; a gallery in Encino,
Calif.; and a second alleged smuggler, according to federal court
documents made public this week. 
The investigation, which resulted last week in raids on a Los Angeles
gallery and four museums in Southern California, including the Los
Angeles County Museum of Art
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/l/los
_angeles_county_museum_of_art/index.html?inline=nyt-org> , was known to
focus on artifacts taken from protected archaeological sites in
Thailand, Myanmar, China and New Mexico. Additional search warrants
released by federal authorities show that the investigation also
includes artifacts from Guatemala and El Salvador.
Investigations into looted antiquities in United States museums have
made headlines here for the last three years, but most of those
inquiries originated abroad, particularly in Italy and Greece, as those
countries sought to recover national treasures they believed had been
illegally removed from archaeological sites in recent decades.
The current investigation, however, originated and has so far been
conducted mainly by federal agencies in the United States, including the
National Park Service
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/n/nat
ional_park_service/index.html?inline=nyt-org> , the Immigration and
Customs Enforcement office and the criminal investigation division of
the Internal Revenue Service
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/i/int
ernal_revenue_service/index.html?inline=nyt-org> . It is one of the
largest investigations by American agencies into the business of looted
antiquities to date.
The additional documents made public this week include a search warrant
for the Malter Galleries in Encino, which the authorities say auctioned
artifacts, including many from Central America. The gallery's owner,
Michael Malter, had been told by a federal undercover agent posing as a
seller that the artifacts had been illegally obtained. 
An affidavit accompanying the search warrant for Malter Galleries also
identified a second person, Robert Perez, said to be involved in
artifact smuggling. It was Mr. Perez who introduced an undercover agent
to Robert Olson, an art dealer in Cerritos, Calif., whose business and
clients were at the center of the Southern California raids last week.
Federal agents have also focused on Barry L. MacLean, an art collector
and industrialist who is a vice chairman of the Art Institute of Chicago
and who maintains a museum, known as the MacLean Collection, in
Libertyville, Ill., north of Chicago. Mr. MacLean is chief executive of
the MacLean-Fogg Company, a manufacturer of industrial parts in nearby
Mundelein, Ill.
According to the federal documents, Mr. MacLean bought artifacts looted
in Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar and Vietnam. They were sold to Mr.
MacLean by Mr. Olson, who the court papers say described Mr. MacLean as
one of his best clients.
Among the items in Mr. MacLean's collection said to have been illegally
taken from foreign sites were bronze caldrons and ivory and gold
earrings from Cambodia, and bronze combs, bracelets and spears from
Thailand. 
Mr. MacLean was not named in the court papers; he was referred to only
as Individual A. But his identity was confirmed by a law enforcement
official and another person briefed on the investigation who spoke on
the condition of anonymity. 
Neither Mr. MacLean, whose involvement in the investigation was first
reported by The Los Angeles Times, nor Mr. Malter responded on Tuesday
to interview requests left at their offices and sent by e-mail. 
A spokeswoman for the Art Institute of Chicago, Erin Hogan, said the
museum had no works in its collection donated by Mr. MacLean, although
he recently pledged $5 million for the endowment campaign for the Art
Institute school. 
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