Kim Kardashian Caught Up In An Ancient Roman Statue Smuggling Operation
NDTV - Kim Kardashian found herself caught up in an unlikely international art smuggling row Tuesday involving an ancient Roman sculpture that was imported to California under her name.
US prosecutors last week called for the statue fragment -- which was seized at a Los Angeles port in 2016 -- to be forfeited and returned to Italy, citing an Italian archaeologist who found it saying the piece had been "looted, smuggled and illegally exported."
Court documents said the consignee and importer name was listed as "'Kim Kardashian dba Noel Roberts Trust' in Woodland Hills, California" and referred to an invoice "for the sale of the defendant statue by Vervoordt to Noel Robert Trust, dated March 11, 2016."
The Noel Roberts Trust is an entity linked to real estate purchases and sales made by Kardashian and her estranged husband Kanye West in the United States.
Axel Vervoordt is a Belgian art dealer who was responsible for the decoration of Kardashian's mansion near Los Angeles, according to the Artnet News website.
But a spokeswoman for Kardashian on Tuesday dismissed US media reports tying the reality star to the statue, telling AFP they did not contain "accurate information."
The statue itself -- referred to as "Fragment of Myron Samian Athena" -- is thought to date to the early- to mid-Roman Empire, and depicts a person's lower half.
It was seized at the Los Angeles port in May 2016 as part of a larger 5.5-ton (5,000 kg) shipment worth $745,000, on suspicion it could be "protected cultural property from Italy" in violation of a law requiring proper documentation for importing rare archaeological items.
This is just another one of those cases of a classic misunderstanding. Obviously.
Do Kim Kardashian, and even moreso Kanye, seem like the types that would want to acquire a piece of one of the oldest constructed structures in human civilization via the Black Market to display in one of their ten houses? Definitely not.
They're more inclined to hit Bed Bath & Beyond and Homegoods for some solid furnishings. At a great price.
What would Kanye (formerly the man of the house a few months ago) do with a "Fragment of Myron Samian Athena" anyways?
(Fun fact- Athena was the Goddess of War, the female counterpart of Ares. She was the daughter of Zeus; no mother bore her. She sprang from Zeus's head, full-grown and clothed in armor. She was Zeus's favorite child. According to Homer's account in the Iliad, Athena was a fierce and ruthless warrior.)
Kanye's flower budget for their houses was reportedly $145,000 a year. He bought $60,000 tiaras for his daughter.
And there's definitely nothing strange about buying his boy Jay-Z a $35,000 skull made of gold.
$200,000 a year on haircuts. $500 a day, no joke.
$2 Million on two kidnap-proof armored trucks that he supposedly travels in for family trips.
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These are all normal, sound, purchases. Not eccentric whatsoever.
So again, to reiterate to the entire country of Italy and historians everywhere, this was an innocent mistake and there's nothing to see here. Here's hoping they find who was really behind all this.