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A spokesman for Kim Kardashian (above) dismissed the reports that tied her to the statue. PHOTO: AFP
May 06, 2021 06:00 am
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LOS ANGELES Kim Kardashian found herself caught up in an unlikely international art smuggling row on Tuesday involving an ancient Roman sculpture that was imported to California under her name.
US prosecutors last week called for the statue fragment - which was seized at a Los Angeles port in 2016 - to be forfeited and returned to Italy, citing an Italian archaeologist who found it saying the piece had been looted, smuggled and illegally exported .
Court documents said the consignee and importer name was listed as Kim Kardashian dba Noel Roberts Trust in Woodland Hills, California and referred to an invoice for the sale of the defendant statue by Vervoordt to Noel Robert Trust, dated March 11, 2016 .
Kim Kardashian‘s reps are denying her involvement in this bizarre story.
The 40-year-old business mogul, future lawyer, and reality star was named in court filings alleging that she was involved in importing an ancient Roman statue. Officials are claiming that this statue was actually stolen from Italy.
Click inside to find out why Kim K. is linked to this statue and how she’s responding.
The statue, called “Fragment of Myron’s Samian Athena” dates back to the 1st or 2nd century AD. US Customs and Border Protection seized it at the Los Angeles seaport back in June of 2016. It is allegedly valued at over $745,000.
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Kim Kardashian on Wednesday disavowed any part of an alleged effort to smuggle an ancient Roman sculpture into the country from Italy. (Frazer Harrison/Getty Image)
LOS ANGELES, CA Kim Kardashian on Wednesday disavowed any part of an alleged effort to smuggle an ancient Roman sculpture into the country from Italy. Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles are seeking the forfeiture of the marble and limestone statue depicting the lower half of a person draped in fabric.
According to court documents, Kardashian was in the process of acquiring the sculpture that had been illegally smuggled out of Italy. However, a spokesperson for the reality tv star, said Wednesday that Kardashian never purchased the piece and that the legal bruhaha was the first that she has learned of its existence.
May 6, 2021
US federal prosecutors have asked Kim Kardashian West to surrender ownership of a classical Roman statue believed to have been looted from Italy. On June 15, 2016, US Customs and Border Protection agents seized Fragment of Myron s Samian Athena, a statue thought to have been sculpted in the first- or second-century, at the Long Beach Seaport in Los Angeles, according to a civil complaint filed by a Justice Department prosecutor on Friday. The statue is still in CBP possession, the complaint said. Documents accompanying the statue submitted to CBP by Masterpiece International, the broker, showed that it had been imported and consigned by Kardashian West and the Noel Roberts Trust, according to the complaint. The Noel Roberts Trust is a financial entity that has been linked with several of Kardashian West s property purchases. An invoice for the sale of the statue to the Noel Roberts Trust was dated March 11, 2016, the complaint said. The statue, which depicts the lower ha