SLAPPing by Antiquities Dealers

Information gathering about market methods

Erin L. Thompson @artcrimeprof 10 g.
I'm collecting threatening letters sent to scholars for their questioning the authenticity of artworks. I've got quite a few (all threats of lawsuits so far). Anyone want to send me more/tell me whom to ask? erin.louisa.thompson at gmail - keeping this very confidential!

Equally interesting are the cases where a fake is called out and reasons given, and the dealer thought better of getting their lawyers involved defending it... (jus' saying). Andy Brockman (@pipelinenews 6 g) reminds us:

These are SLAPP suits, or threats thereof... Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation is an abuse of legal process designed to intimidate and to prevent scrutiny and they are almost invariably engaged in by entities with something to hide.

He accompanies this by a link to a text by Sofia Verza, published by the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF) "SLAPP: the background of Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation". I would be more interested in examples of attempts to use SLAPP on people questioning the collection histories given (or rather not given) by antiquities dealers. I personally know of at least three, there probably are many more, and I think that as a community archaeologists, heritage professionals and others should be more open about having received them (though the threat is usually sent in a form that includes a demand for 'conidentialty').