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Antiquities Dealer Sentenced
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June 11, 2002
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by Mark Rose
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Judge Jed Rakoff today sentenced antiquities dealer Frederick Schultz, who
was convicted in federal district court in Lower Manhattan on February 12
for conspiring to smuggle and possess looted Egyptian artifacts (see "Selling the Past," April 22, 2002). The judge gave Schultz 33 months, the low end of the 33 to 41 months he was facing, and said he would request that Schultz be held at the federal facility in Allenwood, Pennsylvania, where white-collar criminals often do
their time (hence its nickname, Club Fed). Also, Schultz was fined $50,000
fine (a fraction of the $575,000 pre-sentencing recommendation), the judge
noting that for white collar crimes the real deterrence resides in jail
time. Schultz will also have to return a relief to Egypt. After his
release, he will be on probation for two years. Schultz's attorney
indicated they would appeal the verdict.
The length of the sentence was determined in part by the amount of economic
damage, which was debated by the parties. Schultz's counsel had placed the
figure at $70,000, the U.S. government arrived at $2 million (based on sale
and inventory records), and the Egyptian government set it at $54 million.
Judge Rakoff admitted that "the calculation of loss in this case is quite
difficult," but noted that Schultz had sold a head of Amenhotep III for
$1.2 million and had another sculpture listed in inventory as worth
$425,000. The total value of the objects fell within a $1.5-2.5 million
bracket, for which sentencing guidelines gave 33 to 41 months. The judge
did not accept arguments for a longer sentence by the prosecution or by the
defense for a shorter sentence.
Judge Rakoff did not attempt to take into account the loss of archaeological or heritage value for the objects, only using their worth as commodities. This omission may trouble archaeologists, but Rakoff did say that the court found "wholly credible" testimony about the archaeological, historical, and heritage-related significance of the Amenhotep head. If, he
said, the monetary value suggested by the defense had been used he would
have looked at the heritage value of the artifacts. As it was, he felt that
the sentence was appropriate to the seriousness of the crime.
While the judge seemed sympathetic to Schultz the person, he said Schultz the dealer had known "he was stealing these objects in every sense of the word.... Frankly, I think the evidence is overwhelming [that] in these circumstances he was no different than an ordinary thief."
© 2002 by the Archaeological Institute of America
www.archaeology.org/online/news/schultz2.html |
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