![]() Luke Messer (R., Ind.) proposing adding pieces of art as an extension to the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), a 1970 law in place to make it more difficult for mobsters and terrorists to launder money. That discussion has picked up in the U.S. Again, that makes it an ideal venue for money laundering.Īnd yet, not everyone agrees money laundering in the art world is as prevalent as it’s purported to be. This is essentially the process by which the president of Oklahoma City-based retail giant Hobby Lobby was buying Iraqi artifacts for the Museum of the Bible, and though it is impossible to say if the objects were of ISIS-related provenance, the lack of documentation and regulation in this uncertain world means anything is possible. Eventually the goods find their way to warehouses in Europe where they await a Western buyer. The goods are sold to independent middlemen who smuggle them out of the country, into border countries like Lebanon and Turkey. If and when an object of value is found, the digger sells it to ISIS officials at a discounted price. The process begins with ISIS-affiliated jihadists overseeing local digging groups in Iraq in Syria. In 2017, the Wall Street Journal published a longform feature reporting how, exactly, ISIS turns these artifacts into revenue. Whereas much of the area that ISIS controlled has been taken over by government-backed forces, it is reported that the group still controls millions of dollars-and possibly hundreds of millions-thanks in large part to a robust antiquities trade. Then there is the case of international terrorism, where bands like ISIS have been noted for their laundering of cultural antiquities. “from Brazil, via the Netherlands, with false shipping invoices stating that the contents of the shipment were worth $100.” Presumably, Ferreira was on his way to the U.S. ![]() According to The National Law Review, the painting had come to the U.S. by convicted Brazilian money launderer and former banker Edemar Cid Ferreira. Take, for example, a story about Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Hannibal painting, estimated to be worth $8 million. ![]()
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