A British antiquities restorer was charged Wednesday with smuggling over $32 million worth of East Asian artifacts into the United States.
After being extradited from London, Neil Perry Smith was arraigned in the New York State Supreme Court on charges including possession of stolen property, grand larceny, and fraud for his alleged role in smuggling 22 pieces of art into the U.S.
“The arraignment of Neil Perry Smith serves as a reminder that behind every antiquities trafficking ring preying upon cultural heritage for profit, there is someone reassembling and restoring these looted pieces to lend the criminal enterprise a veneer of legitimacy,” said Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. in a release.
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The charges against Smith are part of a decadeslong smuggling operation. He would allegedly restore the pieces to conceal the fact that they were looted from historical sites in India, Cambodia, Thailand, and Nepal, allowing the operation’s ringleader, Subhash Kapoor, to sell them in his art gallery in Manhattan.
“As alleged in the Complaint, Smith and Brooklyn-based restorer Richard Salmon were contracted by Kapoor to clean stolen antiquities and repair any defects, such as dirt, rust, or damage that might indicate recent looting or theft,” officials said in the release.
Smith, Salmon, Kapoor, and five other co-defendants were first indicted in 2019 for their alleged roles in the operation, which dealt at least 2,500 ill-gotten artifacts that brought in over $143 million.
One item Smith allegedly restored for Kapoor was a figure of the “Dancing Shiva,” depicting the Hindu god, valued at $5 million. Another, a figure of the Hindu goddess Uma Parvati, was worth $3.5 million.
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Salmon was arraigned in October 2019. Kapoor is in prison in India awaiting trial, but prosecutors filed extradition paperwork for him in July 2020.
