Kim Kardashian forced to deny stealing historic statue
A rep for Kim Kardashian has been forced to deny the Keeping Up With The Kardashian star had any involvement in a stolen Ancient Roman artefact.
According to Artnet News, a statue known as Fragmen of Myron’s Samian Athena (a piece from the 1st to 2nd century of a female figure from the waist down) was detained at the US border when documentation under Kim's name attempted to import the statue. It's since been reported that the work was "looted, smuggled, and illegally exported" from Italy.
On 30th April 2021, an American court declared Kim as the consignee and importer of the sculpture, and demanded that she forfeit it. The KUWTK star has since denied any involvement in the statue, adding that she didn't even know it existed.
Her rep said in a statement:
"Kim never purchased this piece and this is the first she has learned of its existence. We believe it may have been purchased using her name without authorisation and because it was never received, she was unaware of the transaction. We encourage an investigation and hope it gets returned to the rightful owners."
According to Dazed, Kim reportedly bought the work in 2016 from Belgium’s Axel Vervoordt Gallery, who have since released a statement of their own:
"We’ve been informed only last night that the US government has filed for forfeiture of this Roman piece, sold to our American client and exported to the US in 2016.”
"We have acquired this piece in good faith from a French gallery who had also acquired it in equally good faith from a German auction house. The former collector was English but precise traces seem to stop there. However, there is no evidence that this piece was illegally imported from Italy."
That's a story we never saw coming.
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