Hobby Lobby billionaire ordered to hand over Iraqi treasure trove of priceless artifacts

[applegrove]

BOB BRIGHAM at the Raw Story

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/07/hobby-lobby-billionaire-ordered-to-hand-over-iraqi-treasure-trove-of-priceless-artifacts/

"SNIP..............


The United States Department of Justice filed a civil complaint in federal court demanding that Hobby Lobby “forfeit” thousands of Iraqi artifacts illegally smuggled into the country.

“The protection of cultural heritage is a mission that [Homeland Security Investigations] and its partner U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) take very seriously as we recognize that while some may put a price on these artifacts, the people of Iraq consider them priceless,” stated Special Agent-in-Charge Angel M. Melendez.

The Department of Justice also filed a “stipulation of settlement” with Hobby Lobby in which the arts-and-crafts retailer will pay a $3 million fine and consent to the forfeiture of the artifacts in question.

Today’s action will end the civil case. There is no word yet on potential criminal prosecution.

...............SNIP"

[applegrove]

1. Bond villains.

[shenmue]

6. Yes

[Warpy]

2. I hope those sanctimonious thieves paid through the nose for that stuff

I sincerely hope they're out hundreds of millions of dollars.

I am delighted it will be returned to the people who own it, the Iraqis.

[applegrove]

3. Absolutely.

[Historic NY]

4. Needs to be in a Federal Prison.

[applegrove]

5. I just wish they could get the money back from ISIS and burn it all.

[WinkyDink]

7. Earlier thread:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029291647

[applegrove]

8. Sorry. Missed that as i was sourcing articles. I read DU before. Then i go looking

for novel stories.

[Egnever]

9. Why is it so often the most pious are the biggest criminals

[yellowcanine]

10. He did it for Jesus so it is A-OK!

[ellie]

11. What a bunch of

criminals. Lock 'em up!

[bucolic_frolic]

12. I thought they were a bunch of Christian Do-Gooders

reading their Bible all day while protecting their employees from finding out about the world

They collected Iraqi artifacts? Mixed up people

[applegrove]

13. They paid ISIS for those artifacts in the end.

[kentuck]

15. For real?

So that's where they're getting their money? From Hobby Lobby? Thanks, Judge Gorsuch!

[applegrove]

17. Well isis sold to the illegal dealers who sold to the shady but bigger dealers

who sold to Hobby Lobby.

[rpannier]

19. So, if ISIL got the money

doesn't that mean they're financially supporting terrorists?
That would be a serious crime under the Patriot Act

[bluestarone]

14. what a great group of Christians

but i knew they were bastards NOW we have PROOF but they will LIE

[Roy Rolling]

16. I think it's from Two Corinthians

"Thou shalt return the artifacts that grifters stole from the cradle of civilization"

[trueblue2007]

18. Ha ha ha ha ha .... I do NOT like Hobby Lobby. I shop at MICHAELS & JoAnne Fabrics.

[DFW]

20. Since David Green of Hobby Lobby either made false declarations to Iraqi and US Customs....

Or else bribed officials of one or both countries to get his loot into the USA, he is guilty of several THOUSAND customs laws violations, and possibly bribery as well. The fact is that to obtain these artifacts, the likelihood is very strong that he also helped finance ISIS, militias that killed US troops, Shi'ite militants, or even all of the above. But if you read about this guy, he is convinced ( or pretends to be--nice moral protection--) that God guides his every move. Betcha didn't know that God was on the shadowy end of the antiquities business, eh?

I know a guy (not American) who openly buys looted artifacts from the Taliban that are brought to Copenhagen in Denmark, has been doing so for about ten years, and Americans flock to him to buy hoards of old Taliban-sold coins he has obtained from them in Denmark.They then sell them to American telemarketers, who cook up fascinating historical stories to sell the junk to unsuspecting idiots for ten times their value.

These patriotic Americans, often "anti-towelhead" Republican "conserv'tives" who would swear on their grandma's bible they would NEVER help out the Taliban, spend tens of thousands every month or so with this guy, sell them to the US public, usually in telemarketer programs that market artifacts and/or thousands of identical old coins (in quantity legitimately designated as not rarities) from "ancient India," which 2300 years ago was a very elastic geographical concept. The middleman who gets these coins in Denmark won't even lie about who he gets them from, but, obviously, he doesn't volunteer the information if no one asks, either. He does not smuggle anything, and declares his loot every time he brings in a new batch into the USA. To be fair, I DID speak to one coin dealer from Houston that I found out was buying these things, completely unaware of their origin, who stopped immediately when I told him. The others, to my knowledge, continue unabated.

[lostnfound]

21. Did any of it derive from early days of Iraq war when museums were supposedly "looted by Iraqis"?

Many of us thought that the ransacking of the museums was pre-arranged for benefit of the some particular group of war profiteers.

[Initech]

22. Lock him up!!!!