Overview
- United States District Judge Rachel P. Kovner imposed the prison term in Brooklyn after Eldarir pleaded guilty in February to four smuggling counts.
- CBP officers at JFK in January 2020 opened three suitcases and found 590 artifacts, with loose sand and dirt indicating recent excavation.
- Investigators recovered more than 600 Egyptian objects overall, which have been forfeited with authorities stating they intend to repatriate them to Egypt.
- Court filings describe Eldarir selecting items from videos sent by looters in Egypt and using a kit to fabricate provenance documents.
- The trafficked pieces were consigned to New York auction houses including Palmyra Heritage, Arte Primitivo, and Christie’s, and appraisers valued the JFK cache at about $82,000.