Ex-Louvre director faces criminal charges

The former director of the Louvre Museum in Paris, Jean-Luc Martinez, has been charged with money laundering and complicity in “organized gang fraud,” which apparently involved the trafficking of archaeological objects taken out of Egypt during the unrest in the early 2010s.

Investigators believe that Martinez turned a blind eye to fake certificates of origin for five “criminally obtained” pieces which ended up in the Louvre’s Abu Dhabi branch, AFP reported, citing sources. The suspected fraud allegedly involved several art experts.

According to The Art Newspaper, Martinez, who headed the Louvre between 2013 and 2021, was detained earlier this week, along with the head of the museum’s Egyptian department, Vincent Rondot, and renowned Egyptologist Olivier Perdu.

Read more

Source