Reality star Kim Kardashian has ended up at the centre of an illegal art smuggling row after an ancient Roman sculpture was imported in her name to California.
The US officials claim that the statue was stolen from Italy. As per AFP, the court documents list the importer name “Kim Kardashian dba Noel Roberts Trust in Woodland Hills, California.”
An invoice states, “for the sale of the defendant statue by Vervoordt to Noel Robert Trust, dated March 11, 2016.” The Noel Roberts Trust is linked to Kim Kardashian and her estranged husband Kanye West’s real estate purchases in the US, as per the report.
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Kim has, however, denied purchasing the sculpture. A spokesperson for Kardashian told CNN, “We believe that it may have been purchased using her name without authorisation and because it was never received (and) she was unaware of the transaction. We encourage an investigation and hope that it gets returned to the rightful owners.”
Art dealer and interior designer Axel Vervoordt, named in the court papers, has worked with Kardashian and West on many of their properties. Referred to as ‘Fragment of Myron Samian Athena’, the statue is said to be from the early-to mid-Roman Empire. The report states that it was seized in May 2016 “as part of a larger 5.5-ton (5,000 kg) shipment worth $745,000.” The suspicion under which it was seized was “protected cultural property from Italy.”
