US millionaire linked to looted relics
By David Hebditch and Lawrence Smallman
Sunday 19 June 2005, 16:17 Makka Time, 13:17 GMT
A top US businessman and an international network of smugglers and academics are making millions of dollars through their illegal dealings in looted Middle Eastern artefacts, according to a leading stolen antiquities activist.
Former self-confessed smuggler and police informant Michel Van Rijn told Aljazeera.net that multi-millionaire James Ferrell, the CEO of America's second largest propane gas company Ferrellgas, is running a London-based business that deals in smuggled relics.
Van Rijn says Ferrell established his network on 29 January 2000 with Hungarian-born antiquities dealer William Veres and academic Henry Kim of Oxford University's Ashmolean Museum.
After just eight months of dealing, a copy of Ferrell's own profit calcuations - provided to Aljazeera.net by Veres - show that the Texan-born tycoon had made a 400% profit on his initial $2.5m investment.
Neither Ferrell nor executive members of his staff have replied to repeated requests by telephone and e-mail for comment.
And even though Van Rijn invited the FBI to investigate evidence he supplied in 2003, the agency declined to investigate allegations of crimes that had not been committed in the US.
But Veres provided documentation after his relations with Ferrell soured in 2003. The former antiques middle-man explained to Aljazeera.net how the American CEO's network could make so much money so quickly.
Documents >>>continued
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/930394DD-0E34-478D-AD81-B3DF17B0FED1.htm
Iraq's treasures still being looted
By James Menendez Middle East reporter, BBC World service
The looting of the National Museum in Baghdad two years ago caused an international outcry.
In the chaos that engulfed the city at the end of the war, thousands of pieces were either stolen or damaged.
The US marines who first captured Baghdad were accused of not doing enough to protect the museum's priceless collection of Mesopotamian art.
Others suspected an inside job, with professional smugglers, members of Saddam Hussein's inner circle and international dealers all in the frame.
The precise circumstances of what happened are still not clear, although the loss to Iraq's cultural heritage is not disputed.
But now, one of the world's leading experts on the country's antiquities says there is evidence that archaeological treasures are being systematically plundered
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4114906.stm
Sunday 19 June 2005, 16:17 Makka Time, 13:17 GMT
A top US businessman and an international network of smugglers and academics are making millions of dollars through their illegal dealings in looted Middle Eastern artefacts, according to a leading stolen antiquities activist.
Former self-confessed smuggler and police informant Michel Van Rijn told Aljazeera.net that multi-millionaire James Ferrell, the CEO of America's second largest propane gas company Ferrellgas, is running a London-based business that deals in smuggled relics.
Van Rijn says Ferrell established his network on 29 January 2000 with Hungarian-born antiquities dealer William Veres and academic Henry Kim of Oxford University's Ashmolean Museum.
After just eight months of dealing, a copy of Ferrell's own profit calcuations - provided to Aljazeera.net by Veres - show that the Texan-born tycoon had made a 400% profit on his initial $2.5m investment.
Neither Ferrell nor executive members of his staff have replied to repeated requests by telephone and e-mail for comment.
And even though Van Rijn invited the FBI to investigate evidence he supplied in 2003, the agency declined to investigate allegations of crimes that had not been committed in the US.
But Veres provided documentation after his relations with Ferrell soured in 2003. The former antiques middle-man explained to Aljazeera.net how the American CEO's network could make so much money so quickly.
Documents >>>continued
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/930394DD-0E34-478D-AD81-B3DF17B0FED1.htm
Iraq's treasures still being looted
By James Menendez Middle East reporter, BBC World service
The looting of the National Museum in Baghdad two years ago caused an international outcry.
In the chaos that engulfed the city at the end of the war, thousands of pieces were either stolen or damaged.
The US marines who first captured Baghdad were accused of not doing enough to protect the museum's priceless collection of Mesopotamian art.
Others suspected an inside job, with professional smugglers, members of Saddam Hussein's inner circle and international dealers all in the frame.
The precise circumstances of what happened are still not clear, although the loss to Iraq's cultural heritage is not disputed.
But now, one of the world's leading experts on the country's antiquities says there is evidence that archaeological treasures are being systematically plundered
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4114906.stm
posted by Kangaroo Brisbane Australia at 10:52 PM
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