via The Washington Post, 3 December 2021: I still have a news story involving Douglas Latchford from last week that’s being queued up, but the among the explosive revelations from the Pandora Papers over the weekend is how Latchford and his associates used offshore companies to hide their wrongdoings. I’m sure more will be revealed in time, and I’ll index those stories when they appear.
A global treasure hunt leads to an indicted art dealer’s offshore trusts — and the Met: The records reveal how a notorious art dealer, Douglas Latchford, and his family set up trusts in tax havens shortly after U.S. investigators began linking him to looted Cambodian artifacts. The Post and its ICIJ partners launched a hunt for antiquities that Latchford and his associates are suspected of selling and examined how offshore companies are used to conceal wrongdoing in the global art trade. Although some museums have returned Cambodian antiquities in years past, dozens tied to the indicted dealer remain in prominent collections, including at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and the British Museum in London. These museums and others said that they take many precautions to ensure the items they acquire weren’t stolen, and that standards for provenance have changed over the years.
Source: Key findings from the Pandora Papers investigation – The Washington Post
