More than Repatriation

Rick St. Hilaire, 'U.S. v. Prokopi: Sentence Mitigated as Prosecutors Declare, "Not an Active Fossil Investigation That Has Not Been Informed ... by Information Given by Prokopi", June 4, 2014 stresses that the recent Prokopi sentencing demonstrates the potential of the prosecution of cultural property crimes for US law enforcement opportunities to learn about criminal techniques and to gain information which may develop or confirm investigative leads. As he has pointed out before, the usual tactic of merely seizing and 'repatriating' contraband cultural heritage while withholding details of the case from public information does not provide such opportunites, a thesis with which I am in total agreement. He quotes US government attorneys description of the  cooperation of Prokopi with federal investigators:

Prokopi met with agents and representatives of our Office and the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations numerous times, spent many hours giving information about the fossil trade not only to this office, but to three other offices as they developed their understanding of the fossil trade. Prokopi developed their knowledge of the players in the trade of not only dinosaur fossils, but other natural treasures. Since Prokopi’s cooperation, other fossils have been seized and individuals arrested. Although these owe to leads developed separately and in some cases before Prokopi’s cooperation, it is safe to say that there is not an active fossil investigation that has not been informed, to some degree, by information given by Prokopi in this case.

So, when are they going to apply the same investigative techniques to the antiquity trade? They've had at least four coin dealers in their hands recently, in two of those cases reportedly with temporary seizure of stock and records, the State Department now has extensive details of people opposed to import controls on dugup artefacts from countries such as Egypt, Bulgaria, Greece and Italy who are collectors and dealers of such material. Are there any investigations in hand putting information from these sources together exploring the linkages between buyers and illicitly-sourced material? Will there be more arrests here too?