Antiquities Dealer Edoardo Almagià ’73 Charged by Manhattan DA

Art dealer Edoardo Almagià ’73 has been charged for his suspected role in looting Italian antiquities, according to an arrest warrant provided by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.  

Almagià faces charges of conspiracy, taking part in a scheme to defraud, and possessing stolen property owned by Italy.  

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“Amphora with Warrior” (dated 660-680 B.C.) was among the Princeton University Art Museum objects seized in 2023 in connection with the Manhattan DA’s investigation of Edoardo Almagià ’73.

Manhattan District Attorney’s Office

Almagià, who is based in Italy, is accused of trafficking looted antiquities for decades, as detailed by PAW in a feature story that was published in September 2023. More than 200 items, valued at $7 million, that are suspected to have been trafficked by Almagià, have already been repatriated by the Manhattan DA’s office, which has been working with the Italian government on the matter. The antiquities have been plucked from the collections of various prestigious museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Princeton University Art Museum (PUAM).  

Six pieces connected to Almagià were among the 11 objects that the Manhattan DA’s office seized from Princeton in March 2023. In 2011, the University returned six Almagià-connected items to Italy. 

Based on information available on PUAM’s website, the public listings for two additional items — a lip cup from 550 B.C. that the museum purchased from Almagià in 1991 and an amphora from 700 B.C. that was at one point sold by Almagià and then given by bequest to the museum in 1998 — were removed from the PUAM online catalog earlier this year. As of Nov. 1, PUAM’s collection still included 16 items with ties to Almagià. 

Assistant District Attorney Matthew Bogdanos presented the 79-page arrest warrant to criminal court judge Rachel Pauley, according to The New York Times, which also reported that the DA’s office will soon request that Interpol file an international arrest alert for Almagià and work with Italian officials to begin extradition proceedings. 

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Edoardo Almagià ’73 ‘got away’ with trafficking looted Italian antiquities for decades, says the Manhattan district attorney’s office. Now the Princeton University Art Museum and other museums are facing scrutiny for being homes to his artifacts.

“If Almagià is the first name on your provenance, it is stolen,” Bogdanos, who heads the Antiquities Trafficking Unit, told PAW last year. “That is well known.” 

Almagià did not immediately respond to an interview request. 

When Almagià spoke with PAW in 2023, he denied accusations of wrongdoing and said he bought the items in open markets, which was a common practice when he started as an art dealer in the 1980s. However, a 1909 Italian law declares antiquities the cultural property of the state, including items that were excavated illegally or exported without documentation.