Roben Dib News Today

An octogenarian art dealer is suspected of being the source of allegedly smuggled antiquities sold to the Met and the Louvre Abu Dhabi.

Serop Simonian was arrested in his hometown of Hamburg and transferred to France

Both Martinez and curator Jean-Francois Charnier, who is also ensnared in the allegations, will appeal the decision.

Jean-Claude Gandur lodged his complaint after a journalist informed him the portrait had the same provenance as other suspect artifacts.

French investigators said the agency showed signs of “real professional negligence,” “transgression of deontological rules,” and “failures."

Former Louvre Director Jean-Luc Martinez was accused of conspiring to conceal the origin of artifacts suspected of having been stolen from Egypt during the Arab Spring in 2011, prompting Egyptian demands to return these valuable pieces to Egypt.

New York prosecutors have seized five Egyptian antiques from the Metropolitan Museum of Art as part of an international trafficking investigation involv

Former Louvre Director Jean-Luc Martinez was accused of conspiring to conceal the origin of artifacts suspected of having been stolen from Egypt during the Arab Spring in 2011, prompting Egyptian demands to return these valuable pieces to Egypt.

New York prosecutors have seized five Egyptian antiques from the Metropolitan Museum of Art as part of an international trafficking investigation involving the former head of Pariss Louvre Museum.

According to the Manhattan district attorneys office, the artifacts date back approximately between 250 and 450 BC. The antiques are worth over $3 million and depict a scene from the Book of Exodus.