Subhash Kapoor Collection

Subhash Kapoor Collection

In July 2012, New York authorities issued an arrest warrant for Subhash Kapoor, an American antiquities dealer whose Art of the Past gallery on Madison Avenue was for decades a leading supplier of Asian antiquities. By December that year, authorities said they had seized more than $100 million worth of looted antiquities from his gallery and storage units. It was one of the largest seizures of looted antiquities in US history, and the beginning of a criminal investigation that would span the globe, tracking stolen artifacts to the world's leading museums.

The US investigation of Kapoor, dubbed Operation Hidden Idol, had begun quietly in January 2012, months after the dealer's arrest in Germany on an Interpol Red Notice requested by India authorities, who were already investigating him for his ties to a gang of temple looters. In the US, where Kapoor had lived since the 1970s, authorities soon began conducting a series of raids on his gallery and storage units that continued in waves through 2014. The raids uncovered detailed business records and a vast collection of trafficked objects from across South and Southeast Asia, the Far East and the Himalayas – all waiting to be sold. All told, 2,622 objects were confiscated, valued at a staggering $107 million dollars.

The true scope of Kapoor's alleged crimes were far larger – he had been in business for decades, and the seized objects represented only his inventory at the time of his arrest. Hundreds more objects tied to Kapoor were seized over the following years from his clients, which included leading museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the National Gallery of Australia, among many others.

"Mr Kapoor is one of the most prolific commodities smugglers in the world,” said Immigration and Customs Enforcement Special Agent in Charge James T. Hayes. “It’s one of our most significant antiquities and artifacts investigations that we’ve conducted in the history of this agency.”

While Kapoor stood trial in India, several of his accomplices in the United States were charged and convicted of helping him, including: Kapoor’s sister, Sushma Sareen; his former girlfriend, Selina Mohamed; his gallery manager Aaron Freedman; two art restorers, Neil Perry Smith, who was extradited from London, and Richard Salmon of Brooklyn, both accused of cleaning and repairing stolen statues. Kapoor's extensive network of suppliers in India, Afghanistan, Southeast Asia and beyond were also described in detailed charging documents.

The objects seized from Kapoor sat in storage for several years while the US investigation continued and arrangements were made for their return. In 2021, the Manhattan DA announced the repatriation of 235 of the seized objects to India. They were among the first of hundreds more returns over the coming years to India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and other countries. On April 2022, a New York court granted yet another search warrant to agents of DHS-HSI to seize an additional 202 antiquities valued at USD$6 million from storage units associated with Kapoor.

In November 2022, Kapoor was convicted of trafficking charges in India and sentenced to 10 years in prison. US authorities have requested his extradition to face similar charges, but he remains in Central Prison in Trichy (Tiruchirappalli), Tamil Nadu.

Meanwhile, objects tied to Kapoor continue to surface in collections around the world.

2,622

202

Various

Various (many items are Chola Period bronzes from Tamil Nadu)

India

Cambodia

Pakistan

Nepal

Thailand

China

Jason Felch

Damien Huffer