Los Angeles Man Convicted of Illegally Importing Ancient Roman Mosaic depicting Promethius from Syria

Courthouse News Service

After a four-year court case, a Los Angeles-area man has been convicted of unlawfully importing an ancient mosaic from Syria depicting the story of Hercules rescuing Prometheus. The case is quite an old one (ICE press release July 24th 2020, 'Los Angeles-area man charged with unlawfully importing ancient mosaic'). Prosecutors claimed the man, a naturalised Syrian, lied to his customs broker and declared that he was importing ceramic tiles from Turkey worth less than $600.

Mohamad Yassin Alcharihi, 53, was named in an indictment that charges him with one count of entry of goods into the United States falsely classified as to quality and value. [...] Alcharihi claimed he was importing a mosaic and other items valued at $2,199, when in fact he was importing an ancient mosaic worth more than that. The indictment also alleges that he misrepresented the quality of the mosaic and what the artwork depicted.

The court case dragged on for four years, during which there was a discussion of whether the item itself (weighing over a tonne) should be presented in court (it was) and further details emerged ( Sarah Cascone, 'A California Man Is on Trial for Allegedly Importing an Ancient Roman Mosaic That Was Stolen From Syria The accused's lawyer now contends that the mosaic is actually a fake', ArtNet News June 20, 2023 ):

Alcharihi purchased the mosaic from Turkey in 2015, as part of a larger shipment of dozens of vases and two mosaics that he indicated was worth $2,200. He later admitted to having paid $12,000 for the lot.
The evidence against Alcharihi includes a text message with a photo of the mosaic sent by a Syrian associate in early 2015 that included a picture of the mosaic. He also admitted in court filings before being indicted in July 2020 to spending $40,000 to restore what he described as a “Turkish mosaic”—but claimed he imported it “as trash,” as reported by Courthouse News.
The mosaic that has since landed Alcharihi in legal trouble is 18 feet wide and eight feet tall, and weighs in at 2,000 pounds. It depicts scenes from the myth of Hercules. The FBI raided Alcharihi’s Palmdale, California, home in 2016, seizing the piece, which a government expert identified as a 2,000-year-old Byzantine-period mosaic that is stylistically consistent other ancient works hailing from the region around Idlib, Syria. But while the expert will testify at the trial to the work’s authenticity—including the advanced age of the materials and their origins in the Eastern Mediterranean— Alcharihi’s lawyer, federal public defender Ashley Mahmoudian, challenged the mosaic’s authenticity during opening arguments last week, and blamed the falsifications on the import form on an inexperienced customs broker who made multiple errors.
“Mr. Alcharihi isn’t an art expert. He didn’t see the mosaic prior to its arrival in the U.S.,” she said, arguing that her client was simply a man looking for a promising business venture. “The mosaic is a fake.”
Last week, the defense presented testimony by New York art dealer and antiquities expert Randall Hixenbaugh. He questioned some of the iconography in the mosaic, especially a depiction of a woman in pants, which he told the court was strange because “it’s a symbol of male barbarism to wear trousers,” Courthouse News reported.

Hixenbaugh did not examine the mosaic in person, and was unable to say outright whether he thought the mosaic was a fake (and it is odd that the court asked a dealer but seem not to have engaged an academic specialising in the mosaics from the area to testify), but he did offer the opinion that it was worth only $30,000, in other words less than what Alcharihi had spent on restorations. The DOJ claimed a governmental appraisal expert valued the mosaic at $450,000.

Mohamad Yassin Alcharihi was convicted today of having illegally imported to the USA of an ancient Roman mosaic from war-torn Syria. Alcharihi faces a maximum of two years in prison. He is expected to be sentenced on Aug. 31.

More details from Chasing Aphrodite: UPDATED > USA vs One Ancient Mosaic: A Looted Syrian Masterpiece in Los Angeles Posted on May 26, 2018

Hat tip Lynda Albertson.