Kim Kardashian Must Forfeit an Ancient Roman Sculpture That Experts Say Was Looted From Italy
The celebrity influencer purchased the work from Axel Vervoordt Gallery in 2016.
US media personality Kim Kardashian in 2019. Photo by Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images.
The U.S. government is seeking the forfeiture of an ancient Roman sculpture that celebrity influencer Kim Kardashian was in the process of acquiring after officials determined that it had been illegally smuggled out of Italy.
The statue was detained at the U.S. border in 2016 after a logistics company working for Kardashian tried to import it with the wrong documentation. New legal documents, first pointed out on Twitter by federal courts reporter Robert Snell and independently verified by Artnet News, have concluded that the work was “looted, smuggled, and illegally exported,” and Italian authorities have requested its repatriation.