US authorities have ordered a Roman statue to be returned to Italy that was illegally imported to the US, at the center of a legal proceeding in which the name of Kim Kardashian, a reality TV and social network star, was found.
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The US decision is based on the opinion of an Italian archaeologist who believes that a statue piece seized in 2016 in the Port of Los Angeles was “looted, smuggled and illegally exported.”
Court documents reviewed by AFP identify the recipient and importer as “Kim Kardashian as Noel Roberts’ Trust” and refer to the bill for the sale of the statue by a Vervoordt assigned to the Trust. Noel Roberts on March 11, 2016.
The Noel Roberts Fund is an entity linked to prior real estate transactions in the United States by Kim Kardashian and her husband, Kanye West, who are in the process of divorce.
As for Axel Fairfordt, according to specialist Artnet News, he’s a Belgian art dealer hired to decorate Kim Kardashian’s vast home near Los Angeles.
Kim Kardashian denies any involvement with her
But a spokeswoman for the star denied Tuesday some US media linking Kim Kardashian to the controversial statue, and told AFP that it was not “accurate information.”
The statue is referred to in American actions as “Myron’s High Part of Athens”. The Italian expert who examined it describes it as “the classical byblofor style … which represents a copy of the original Greek sculpture”.
The artwork, which was part of a five-ton load, was seized in the Port of Los Angeles in May 2016 on suspicion that it could be subject to a law protecting cultural heritage.
Even more ambiguous: US authorities believe that the invoice presented to justify the sale of the statue to Mr. Fairford in 2012 by a Parisian gallery appears to refer to another statue.
In response to a question by AFP, Axel Fairfordt did not respond on Tuesday evening.
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