Former Louvre Director Jean-Luc Martinez Charged in Investigation – RisePEI
Earlier this week, information broke that former Louvre director Jean-Luc Martinez was being questioned by French authorities as a part of an ongoing investigation into an alleged trafficking ring of antiquities.
Now, Martinez, who oversaw the Paris museum between 2013 and 2021, has been formally charged on Wednesday night time in relation to the investigation on the grounds of “complicity of gang fraud and laundering,” based on a report by the Artwork Newspaper, which cited “an official authorized supply.” He had been detained on Monday and interviewed by the French Central Workplace for Combating Trafficking in Cultural Property (OCBC) over the course of three days.
As ARTnews reported yesterday, Martinez’s detainment and questioning had been executed in connection to a bigger ongoing investigation into antiquities that had been bought to the Metropolitan Museum of Artwork in New York and the Louvre Abu Dhabi within the United Arab Emirates.
In his function as director of the Louvre, Martinez, who departed the establishment final 12 months after an unsuccessful marketing campaign to have his contract renewed, co-chaired the committee that permitted acquisitions for the Louvre Abu Dhabi, which has licensed the Louvre’s title by 2037 as a part of a joint settlement between the French and U.A.E. governments.
Martinez’s “complicity” expenses stem from allegations that he had not completely heeded issues raised by Marc Gabolde, an Egyptologist on the College of Montpellier.
Gabolde’s issues centered across the 1933 exportation of an Egyptian stele that was in the end acquired by the Louvre Abu Dhabi. Martinez has beforehand denied wrongdoing however declined to remark after he was charged. The Louvre has declined to touch upon the continuing investigation.
