also revealed offshore trusts that Latchford used to hold money and art.
“I was freshly wealthy,” Clark said in the interview. “I was a bit naive. In those days, I just thought: ‘Wow, this is cool stuff — I’ll buy it for my apartment.’ ”“I always assumed that he was a well-regarded expert because he had published these books, and he had documents from the Cambodian government honoring him,” he said.
Getting Khmer pieces back is seldom so easy, however, even when the Cambodian investigators can trace the history of the missing artworks.The Cambodian investigation into the Lindemanns began with a tip.the American attorney working with Cambodian investigators. The email contained photos from a 2008 issue of Architectural Digest of a “dazzling” $68.5 million Palm Beach mansion.
A slight, restless Cambodian man with — in his own words — “the smile of a tiger,” the antiquities broker acknowledged in an interview that he had been, essentially, an accomplice: Years ago, he helped transport a number of the allegedly looted pieces that appeared in the Lindemann living room to one of Latchford’s main suppliers. He also brokered deals involving looted antiquities and has helped in a U.S. antiquities investigation, Gordon said.
“It’s easily one of the most important statues in the temple, and probably all of Koh Ker,” Gordon, said about the Vishnu figure. “By having this in their collection, the Lindemanns essentially [had] the Cambodian equivalent of a sarcophagus stolen from King Tut’s tomb sitting in their living room.” The sandstone work represents Dhrishtadyumna, a celebrated warrior. It was part of a nine-statue set depicting a pivotal fight scene from a Hindu epic, scholars say. Most had passed through Latchford to prominent museums and auction houses, including New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, Calif., and Sotheby’s, and have been returned.
Shortly after that trip, the Lindemanns donated two Khmer statues to the Met. According to the Cambodian investigators, a former looter said he had stolen the two pieces and sold them to one of Latchford’s main suppliers. Both statues remain in the museum’s collection.
Source: Real Estate Daily Report (realestatedailyreport.net)