The American authorities have ordered the return to Italy of a Roman statue illegally imported into the United States, at the heart of a legal procedure in which the name of Kim Kardashian, star of reality TV and social networks is found. The American decision is based on the opinion of an Italian archaeologist who believes that the fragment of a statue, seized in 2016 at the port of Los Angeles, was
"looted, smuggled and illegally exported"
. Court documents reviewed by AFP designate the name of the recipient and the importer as
"Kim Kardashian acting as the Trust Noel Roberts"
and refers to an invoice for the sale of the statue by a certain Vervoordt to the Trust. Noel Roberts dated March 11, 2016.
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The Noel Roberts Trust is an entity linked to past real estate transactions in the United States by Kim Kardashian and her husband Kanye West, who are in the process of divorce.
As for Axel Vervoordt, according to the specialized site Artnet News, he is a Belgian art dealer who had been hired to decorate the vast home of Kim Kardashian near Los Angeles.
A spokesperson for the star, however, denied Tuesday some American media linking Kim Kardashian to the controversial statue, telling AFP that it was not
"accurate information"
.
The statue is referred to in American proceedings as
"Myron's Samian Athena Fragment"
.
The Italian expert who examined it describes it as
"classical peplophore style ... which represents a copy of an original Greek sculpture"
.
The artwork, which was part of a five-ton load, was seized at the Port of Los Angeles in May 2016 on suspicion that it could fall under a law protecting cultural heritage.
Even more mysterious, the American authorities believe that the invoice provided to justify the sale of the statue to Axel Vervoordt in 2012 by a Parisian gallery seems to refer to another statue.
Asked by AFP, Axel Vervoordt did not respond on Tuesday evening.
