{"id":55872,"date":"2025-01-29T16:55:18","date_gmt":"2025-01-29T16:55:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/business\/legal\/7-questions-you-have-about-the-manhattan-das-agreement-with-a-new-york-antiquities-collector\/"},"modified":"2025-01-29T16:55:18","modified_gmt":"2025-01-29T16:55:18","slug":"7-questions-you-have-about-the-manhattan-das-agreement-with-a-new-york-antiquities-collector","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=55872","title":{"rendered":"7 Questions You Have About the Manhattan DA\u2019s Agreement with “A New York Antiquities Collector”"},"content":{"rendered":"


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In his final days as Manhattan\u2019s district attorney, Cyrus Vance, Jr. stirred the cultural property world with the announcement of a controversial immunity deal between his office and New York hedge fund giant and philanthropist, Michael H. Steinhardt.<\/span><\/p>\n


Steinhardt, a prolific collector of archaeological material whose name is synonymous with cultural property cases like U.S. v. An Antique Platter of Gold<\/i><\/a> (\u201cGolden Phiale\u201d) and the recently decided Republic of Turkey v. Christie\u2019s, Inc, Michael Steinhardt, and Anatolian Marble Female Idol of Kiliya Type<\/i><\/a> (\u201cStargazer\u201d) will not be counted among the 17 that the NY district attorney\u2019s antiquities trafficking team already has charged over the years. The last to be charged, in July, was a conservator for his alleged role in Subhash Kapoor\u2019s smuggling ring<\/a>.
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Steinhardt, nevertheless, no longer will be able to purchase or sell archaeological material, a novel condition that prosecutors imposed to resolve the case of \u201cIN THE MATTER OF A GRAND JURY INVESTIGATION INTO A PRIVATE NEW YORK ANTIQUITIES COLLECTOR.\u201d<\/p>\n

Accompanying the New York County District Attorney\u2019s Office (DANY) non-prosecution agreement (NPA), filed on December 6, was a hefty \u201cStatement of Facts\u201d in which prosecutors coruscatingly advertised \u201cthe evidentiary basis for the conclusion that 180 antiquities possessed by Steinhardt currently valued at approximately $70 million, constitute stolen property under New York law.\u201d<\/p>\n

A supplemental press statement<\/a> issued by DA Vance accused Steinhardt of having \u201ca rapacious appetite for plundered artifacts without concern for the legality of his actions.\u201d Manhattan\u2019s chief prosecutor severely criticized Steinhardt\u2019s \u201cdecades-long indifference to the rights of peoples to their own sacred treasures\u201d as \u201cappalling,\u201d<\/p>\n

But Steinhardt flatly countered \u201cthat he did not commit any crimes related to his acquisition, possession, or sale of any antiquities,\u201d a contention given weight by the Stargazer judge\u2019s conclusion\u2014just 90 days earlier\u2014that \u201cfound Steinhardt to be a credible witness, and [found that] Steinhardt detailed the efforts he took prior to purchasing the [Stargazer] Idol to gather more information about the history and the origins of the Idol.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/span>This article attempts to answer seven questions about the DANY\u2019s notable agreement with Steinhardt.<\/p>\n

#1 What is an NPA?<\/span><\/b>

A prosecution office\u2019s binding promise that it will not pursue criminal charges against a target or subject of a criminal investigation so long as the target or subject abides by conditions typically is documented in an NPA. Such agreements often are used by prosecuting attorneys to secure a person\u2019s testimony against a more significant criminal target.<\/span><\/p>\n

The NPA between the DANY and Steinhardt is\u00a0not a witness cooperation agreement, however. Instead, it offers Steinhardt conditional immunity from prosecution for any potential wrongdoing committed over the course of 34 years of antiquities purchases, sales, and tax handling in exchange for the speedy restitution of 180 antiquities to their countries of origin.<\/span><\/p>\n

Steinhardt\u2019s agreement is with the DANY only, the agency that prosecutes state crimes like Criminal Possession of Stolen Property. There has been no announcement of lawyers reaching a parallel deal with the US Department of Justice (DoJ), the agency that prosecutes federal crimes like smuggling, making false statements on customs forms, or receiving stolen property in interstate commerce.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

But that probably doesn\u2019t matter.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"Bull's<\/span><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
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The Bull\u2019s Head investigation involved<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Colorado art collectors Lynda and William<\/p>\n

Beirwaltes, who purchased the marble object<\/p>\n

in 1996 and sold it to Steinhardt in 2010, who<\/p>\n

then loaned it to the Metropolitan Museum of<\/p>\n

Art in 2017 before the DANY repatriated it to<\/p>\n

Lebanon. The case spawned the creation of the<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Yet it is highly unlikely that federal prosecutors would pursue antiquities-related charges against Steinhardt at this juncture given the resolution reached with NY prosecutors, and especially considering that the US Attorney\u2019s Office for the Eastern District of New York handed off its Bull\u2019s Head investigation to the DANY in 2017. (See photo caption for more about the Bull\u2019s Head).<\/span><\/p>\n

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#2 What are the NPA\u2019s important conditions?<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

The terms of the NPA enjoin Steinhardt from obtaining antiquities ever again. Failure to follow this extraordinary condition\u2014and several others\u2014could result in prosecution. The DANY, in turn, has promised to free Steinhardt from the threat of any possible prosecution related to his decades-long antiquities collecting career.<\/p>\n


Significantly, Steinhardt has agreed to:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n