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Thursday, August 29, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Sentenced for smuggling ancient art

LOS ANGELES — A California man has been sentenced to three months in prison after he, in 2015, illegally smuggled a Syrian floor mosaic that depicts Hercules rescuing Prometheus. The man had misclassified the Roman Empire-era artwork in customs documents, describing it as ceramic tiles valued less than $600 rather than as the $450,000, 2,000-pound historic artifact that it is.

Read the press release here.

Read our previous coverage of this smuggled mosaic here and here.

Categories / Arts, Briefs, Criminal, History

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