PHNOM PENH: New York Federal prosecutors have filed a civil complaint against Denver Art Museum, Keeping Cambodian artifacts acquired from the British art dealer and alleged smuggler Douglas Latchform. The late Latchford was best known as a collector of Cambodian antiquities. Some of them have already been returned to the kingdom. The move initiated by the United States is to help the Cambodian government retrieve its valuable artifacts.

The case, United States of America versus a Late 12th Century Khmer Sandstone Sculpture Depicting Standing Prajnaparamita has been filed on Monday. It is seeking the return of four pieces the Denver Art Museum that were acquired from Douglas Latchford. Latchford was known as one of the world’s experts on Khmer Empire arts.

In 2019, he was charged for being involved in looting and smuggling antiquities out of Cambodia and then selling them for millions of dollars. He later died in August 2020. Some of the Cambodian antiquities he took from Cambodia have already been returned this year, through the coordination of the US government, his family and Cambodia’s Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts.

The U.S. attorney for Southern New York, Damian Williams has released a statement saying, as alleged, Douglas Latchford papered over the problematic provenance of Cambodian antiquities with falsehoods, in the process successfully placing stolen goods in the permanent collection of an American museum. The court indicates that Latchford tricked the museum that he obtained the pieces legally.

Accordingly, Denver Art Museum paid him over $800,000 for the two sculptures. The museum voluntarily relinquished custody of the four Khmer artifacts. The artifacts are believed to be seventh- to eighth-century old including the Khmer sandstone sculpture depicting the sun god Surya.