The daughter of Douglas A.J. Latchford, a scholar and dealer of ancient Khmer artefacts who died in 2020, has agreed to forfeit $12 million from his estate as part of a settlement of a civil case that accused her father of profiting from the sale of stolen Cambodian statues and gold relics. She also agreed to hand over a seventh-century bronze statue from Vietnam said to have been bought by Latchford with illegally obtained funds.
‘The late Douglas Latchford was a prolific dealer of stolen antiquities,’ Ivan J. Arvelo, a special agent in charge with U.S. Homeland Security Investigations, said in a statement. ‘His complicity in numerous illicit transactions over several decades garnered him millions of dollars in payments from buyers and dealers in the United States, of which as part of this agreement, $12 million will be rightfully forfeited by his estate.’
Latchord’s daughter reached an agreement in 2021 with the Cambodian government to return over 125 items that authorities asserted were looted from Cambodia. Talks remain ongoing between Cambodia and multiple international museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where dozens of looted objects are said to be held, with some given or sold to the museum by Latchford.
Further information on the case of Donald Latchford can be found in ArtReview‘s A History of Looting in Southeast Asia.
