French Court Upholds Charges Against Former Louvre Director in Antiquities Trafficking Case
Martinez was charged for “complicity" as part of the investigation into an art trafficking ring.
A French appeals court upheld the charges against Jean-Luc Martinez, the former president and director of the Louvre in Paris, for his alleged complicity in the trafficking of antiquities from Egypt.
Martinez, who led the Louvre from 2013 to 2021, was charged for “complicity in fraud,” money laundering, and “facilitating” the purchase of artifacts linked to a vast trafficking ring that has been the target of a years-long police inquiry. French authorities suspect that the network of smugglers and their accomplices have sold art and relics to museums and galleries worldwide, including the Louvre’s Abu Dhabi outpost between 2014 and 2017.
