[CPProt.net] Getty: Photos link curator to suspect dealers

[MSN CPPnet (Ton Cremers)]

Photos link curator to suspect dealers
September 5, 2005

   
Two months before the chief antiquities curator of the J. Paul Getty Trust
is to stand trial in Rome on charges of conspiring to receive illegally
exported artworks, a newly revealed series of letters and photographs show
that the curator, Marion True, maintained close ties to dealers suspected of
selling stolen art, the Los Angeles Times reported last week.

The letters indicated the dealers were offering objects "which appear to be
from illegal excavations", and photographs showed the artefacts "in an
unrestored state" that suggested they were looted recently, said a copy of a
confidential 2001 memo from the Getty's lawyer, obtained by the Times.

In a statement, the trust responded: "The Times's story is based on
privileged documents that have been stolen from the Getty. The Getty
provided all of the materials that were requested and did not provide
materials that were not requested."

Italian authorities identified 42 objects, including some of the Getty's
most prized antiquities, as stolen and demanded their return.