Stolen Cambodian Sculptures Worth Over $35 million Is Going Home

One’s heritage can never forgotten!  Dozens of ancient Cambodian sculptures worth more than $35 million are returning home, years after they were stolen, brought to America and sold in a long-running fraud by disgraced art dealer Douglas Latchford.

According to court papers filed this week by the US Attorney’s office, the 34 sculptures are bronze, gold or sandstone, dated to the 8th, 10th, 11th and 12th centuries and include Buddha, and Hindus such as Vishnu, Shiva and Garuda which contains depictions of deities.

Latchford, who lived in Thailand, where died in august 2020 at the age of 89. He was indicted in 2019 on wire fraud and other charges for arranging to sell stolen antiquities in New York and London, but after his death the case was dismissed.

The stolen Cambodian sculptures were handed over to the U.S. government by the collector who bought them from Latchford, identified in reports as Netscape founder James H. Clark.

Three of the 34 stolen works are seen here, which date from the 8th to 12th centuries.

Clark and other collectors who bought from Latchford were fooled by the forged and forged documents he provided, according to Ricky J. Patel, New York’s acting special agent in charge of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

“HSI New York will not rest in its efforts to unearth all the antiquities related to the Latchford fraud and see that every piece of history is not only found, but sent home,” Patel said.