Antiquities Coalition

ICYMI—2025 @ec.europa.eu report on stolen cultural goods databases and transaction registries.

Key takeaways →
🔑Stats from EU law enforcement
🔑Case studies linking cultural goods and money laundering
🔑Analysis of EU monitoring frameworks

Read it here: ow.ly/1IZT50XSCGw

Join us next week for "Leveraging the UNCAC to Combat Cultural Racketeering" at #COSP11.

📅 17 December, 5:00 pm (UTC+03:00)
📍 Special Event Room 2 / Online
🔗 Watch here: meet.google.com/dkq-oifc-vkg

Featuring experts from the AC, UNODC, GITOC, @dcmsgovuk.bsky.social, #Egypt, and #Italy.

⛑️Sudan’s archeological heritage is in crisis.

To track what’s been lost, Shadia Abdrabo is creating an online database of Sudan’s cultural treasures.

Learn more: phys.org/news/2025-11...

ICAHM Webinars series 2025 Registration form

🏗️Land Consolidation vs 🏺Archaeology

ICAHM’s David Depraetere and Tom Debruyne will discuss conflicts and solutions with two cases from the Flemish hinterland.

Wednesday, November 26 at 2 pm (GMT)
Register for the Webinar: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Here's how you can help →

♻️Reshare our Map of the Ten Most Wanted Missing Antiquities, an illustrated guide to some of the most significant looted, stolen, and missing artifacts from around the world.

Learn more: theantiquitiescoalition.org/multimedia-r...

On this, the International Day Against Illicit Trafficking in Cultural Property, the AC recalls the human impact of #CulturalRacketeering.

📢Cultural plunder robs communities of their heritage, corrupts the archaeological record, and enables a range of organized crimes.

🖼️COMING SOON: An expert discussion featuring the AC's Tess Davis, @arguscpc.bsky.social, and
@transparencyusa.bsky.social.

Rogue Galleries: Tackling Illicit Finance in US Art Markets
⏰November 17, 2025 | 12:00 - 1:00 p.m.
📍Hudson Institute/Online

→ Register here: www.hudson.org/preview-link...

Theft of Roman statues from Syria’s main museum believed to be the work of an individual Investigators believe the theft of ancient Roman-era statues from Syria's national museum was likely the work of an individual and not an organized gang.

🚨ALERT—Thieves stole six Roman statues from Syria's national museum in Damascus earlier this week.

Investigators are pursuing information about these lost cultural treasures.

Learn more: apnews.com/article/syri...

📣Over 40,000 looted artifacts returned to #Iraq in just four years—a milestone achievement in cultural diplomacy and law enforcement cooperation. But the fight is far from over.

Find out more: artdependence.com/articles/ira...

🖼️Five Years of Progress🖼️

On Sept. 24, 2020, the AC’s FCTF released its landmark report, 'Reframing U.S. Policy on the Art Market: Recommendations for Combating Financial Crimes.'

→ ow.ly/2Iy550X15p7

Stay tuned! In the days ahead, we'll share progress updates and insights from the FCTF.

How are Ukrainians fighting back against Russia’s assault on their cultural heritage?

🔊Find out—listen to this excellent discussion from the ‘Art in Brief’ podcast, featuring Roksolana Makar and Anastasiia Olexii.
pod.link/1792885681/e...

📅Mark Your Calendar📅

On September 23, @unesco.org will host a webinar marking the launch of the third volume in the Oxford Commentaries on International Cultural Heritage Law—the focus: #Asia.

🔗 Register here: utsmeet.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

🗺️From Burial to Battleground🗺️

The #Mariupol Bull Figurine—buried with a child 8,000 years ago, and excavated by a Ukrainian scholar later executed in Stalin’s purges—is now missing.

→ Explore our latest StoryMap, tracing its loss: ow.ly/pzNt50WTXtu

Congress Takes Aim at Dirty Money in the Multi-Billion-Dollar U.S. Art Market - Antiquities Coalition Bipartisan Legislation Would Strengthen National Security, Uphold Economic Integrity, and Support Honest Businesses  The Antiquities Coalition commends Senators John Fetterman (D-PA), Chuck Grassley (...

The #ArtMarketIntegrityAct closes a dangerous loophole.
🖼️ It protects honest businesses.
💵 It disrupts illicit finance.
🛡️ It strengthens national security.

→ Learn more: theantiquitiescoalition.org/congress-tak...

❌ Fiction: The #ArtMarketIntegrityAct would hurt small businesses.
✅ Fact: It only applies to sales over $10K or businesses making $55K+ annually. Small & casual sellers? Not affected.

❌ Fiction: The #ArtMarket already follows all anti-money laundering rules.
✅ Fact: While the market's leading professional guidelines DO go far beyond the BSA's requirements, thus far the sector is self-regulated—and an increasing number of "smoking guns" show how that self-regulation is failing.

❌ Fiction: The art sector isn’t a big enough to warrant BSA protection.
✅ Fact: The global art market is worth $68B—larger than the music industry & rivaling luxury jewelry. Its high-value, private deals make it a money launderer’s haven.
#ArtMarketIntegrityAct

❌ Fiction: Art dealers aren't banks, so they should not be subject to the BSA.
✅ Fact: Despite its name, the BSA covers a wide-range of high-risk professionals and industries—including sellers of cars, boats, planes, jewels, stones, and precious metals.
#AML #ArtCrime

🖼️Dirty money is infiltrating the U.S. art market.

The #ArtMarketIntegrityAct would fight back by expanding the Bank Secrecy Act—protecting legitimate businesses, while helping law enforcement track illicit financial flows.

Let’s bust 4 myths we've seen circulating around the bill:

📅Mark Your Calendar!

The U.S. Cultural Property Advisory Committee will meet Sept. 15-17 to review a new CPA request from #Cameroon and to renew agreements with #Colombia and #Türkiye, and extend emergency restrictions for #Afghanistan.

Find Out More: ow.ly/39SS50WEV0B

Antiquities Coalition Enlists the Public to Help Ukraine Recover Missing Cultural Treasure - Antiquities Coalition “Ten Most Wanted Antiquities” List Spotlights 8000-Year-Old Artifact Presumed Looted During Russian Invasion Washington, D.C., August 5, 2025—The Antiquities Coalition issued a global alert for the “M...

🚨 New addition to our Ten Most Wanted Antiquities: The “Mariupol Bull Figurine,” one of more than 2,000 museum pieces that disappeared amid the chaos of Russia’s 2022 siege of Mariupol and the Kremlin’s broader campaign of cultural plunder.

Learn more: theantiquitiescoalition.org/antiquities-...

Congress Takes Aim at Dirty Money in the Multi-Billion-Dollar U.S. Art Market - Antiquities Coalition Bipartisan Legislation Would Strengthen National Security, Uphold Economic Integrity, and Support Honest Businesses  The Antiquities Coalition commends Senators John Fetterman (D-PA), Chuck Grassley (...

The Art Market Integrity Act will deny illicit actors the opportunity to launder money through the US art market. Huge shoutout to @combatlooting.bsky.social for their work championing this important bill. See their full press release here:
theantiquitiescoalition.org/congress-tak...

Examining Russia’s assault on Ukraine’s cultural heritage Experts discuss Russia’s war on Ukraine’s cultural heritage and the steps that international partners can take to protect culture and history.

🌐Join us August 5, 2025

Together with the @atlanticcouncil.bsky.social Eurasia Center, we will announce the latest addition to the #TenMostWantedMissingAntiquities list and hear expert discussion on the Russian war on Ukraine’s cultural heritage.

→ Register here: ow.ly/PmeI50WwfgQ

Congress Takes Aim at Dirty Money in the Multi-Billion-Dollar U.S. Art Market - Antiquities Coalition Bipartisan Legislation Would Strengthen National Security, Uphold Economic Integrity, and Support Honest Businesses  The Antiquities Coalition commends Senators John Fetterman (D-PA), Chuck Grassley (...

By extending BSA guardrails to the art market, the Art Market Integrity Act will help protect our national interests, ensuring that criminals do not succeed at the expense of law-abiding collectors, dealers, galleries, and auction houses.

🏦Read more: theantiquitiescoalition.org/congress-tak...

BSA guidelines mirror industry-authored best practices like
✅Know Your Customer (KYC)
✅Good record keeping
✅Basic due diligence

The BSA’s framework is no longer limited to banks. Its reporting and compliance standards now apply across a broad range of sectors vulnerable to financial crime—including💎🎰⛵️🚗💍🏠

What's not protected? 🖼️🏺

🖼️A Bipartisan Bill to Stop #ArtCrime: The Art Market Integrity Act

The newly released legislative proposal is essential to protect national security, economic integrity, and American businesses.

→ theantiquitiescoalition.org/congress-tak...

The AC congratulates the @manhattanda.bsky.social Antiquities Trafficking Unit for the restitution of three artifacts to #Indonesia and 28 antiquities to #Turkey.

🛡️Read More: manhattanda.org/d-a-bragg-an...

The Lalitpur Call to Action–How Regional Leadership Is Shaping Global Solutions Against Cultural Racketeering - Antiquities Coalition South and Southeast Asia are emerging as powerful leaders in the global fight against cultural racketeering. Building on existing commitments, such as those by ASEAN, countries across the region conti...

📣 NEW on the AC Blog: The Lalitpur Call to Action—How Regional Leadership is Driving Global Solutions Against Cultural Racketeering.

The AC commends @nhrcampaign.bsky.social's leadership in the fight for justice and cultural restitution.

🔸Read more: ow.ly/fj1Z50WmqiC

Advancing Regional Cooperation to Protect Cultural Heritage: Insights from the U.S.–Cambodia Cultural Property Agreement The illicit trade in cultural antiquities is a growing global crisis, particularly affecting Southeast Asia. Criminal networks are looting historical sites and smuggling artifacts, undermining cultura...

🇺🇸 🤝🇰🇭 The AC is proud to join an upcoming panel on "Insights from the U.S.–Cambodia Cultural Property Agreement."

📅 30 June 2025
📍 US-ASEAN Center (in-person and online)

🔗 Register by June 27: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...