April 4, 2012
AP
NEW YORK — Federal prosecutors are seeking to confiscate
an ancient statue from Cambodia that had been bound for auction at
Sotheby’s in New York.
The U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan filed court papers Wednesday alleging the 1,000-year-old relic was stolen from a temple in Cambodia and illegally imported from Belgium to be sold at auction. The court papers say it was consigned by a private collector to Sotheby’s in 2010.
Prosecutors say the statue is of “extraordinary value” to the Cambodian people.
Sotheby’s disputed the allegations. The auction house said the
sculpture was legally imported into the U.S. It said it had never seen
evidence showing when the sculpture left Cambodia.
The statue was to be auctioned in March, but Sotheby’s took it off the auction block a day before the sale.
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