Children Of German Dealer Convicted Of Money Laundering In Hamburg

(MENAFN- USA Art News) Two children of German dealer Serop Simonian, who is accused of leading an Egyptian antiquities trafficking ring, have been convicted of money laundering in Hamburg.

According to the AFP, the city criminal court issued a ruling on August 24, ordering the confiscation of €32 million from the proceeds of the Simonians' sales and imposing fines totaling over €120,000. While the court did not disclose their names, the charges align with those previously brought against Abraham Simonian and his sister Alice Simonian Schad.

The court indicated that the siblings were involved in selling a bust of Cleopatra, a stela bearing Tutankhamun's name, and a princess's funerary set to a museum in the United Arab Emirates. These artifacts, allegedly looted in Egypt, were sold to the Louvre Abu Dhabi, along with a golden sarcophagus acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The total value of sales to both museums reached €70 million.

Specifically, €26 million was confiscated from Abraham Simonian, and €6 million from Alice Simonian Schad. They were ordered to pay fines of more than €90,000 and €30,000, respectively. Both have filed an appeal but declined to comment on the matter. An additional charge against Abraham Simonian, alleging collaboration with a gang to traffic stolen goods, was dropped due to insufficient evidence.

This marks the first judgment issued in Europe regarding the Simonians' activities, which have impacted the museum and heritage sectors, over seven years after the seizure of the golden sarcophagus in New York brought the case to public attention.

An investigation initiated by Matthew Bogdanos, chief of the Antiquities Trafficking Unit for the Manhattan District Attorney's office, revealed that the Simonians' transactions were conducted through a French dealer, Christophe Kunicki, who now faces charges of gang fraud in Paris. In 2020, a Parisian judge issued a European arrest warrant for the Simonian siblings, but German courts rejected the extradition request, deeming it inadequately substantiated. Meanwhile, the French case against their father, Serop Simonian, appears to be delayed within an overburdened judicial system. After spending 15 months in pre-trial detention in Paris, Serop Simonian, now 84 years old, returned to Hamburg in March 2025 following a breakdown in the French criminal proceedings.

Abraham Simonian has denied inheriting his father's business, although investigators assert he became more involved in the dealings from 2013 onward. The judgment states that in 2017, Alice Simonian Schad collected €6.4 million from the €8.5 million sale of the Tutankhamun slab. However, a Hamburg prosecutor's report obtained by The Art Newspaper indicates that Abraham Simonian received the majority of the business's income. In 2014, he billed the Louvre Abu Dhabi €4.5 million for the princess's coffins and a Fayum portrait, presenting them as“gifts from his grandparents.” After deducting commissions for intermediaries, €3.8 million was deposited into his accounts at the Volksbank in Hamburg. He repeated this practice in 2018 for the colossal marble head of Cleopatra, sold to the Louvre Abu Dhabi for a record sum of €35 million, receiving a share of €23.5 million.

The family's inventory of approximately 200 antiquities was subsequently moved to Antwerp, where it was seized in June 2021; according to police files, these artifacts were registered under Abraham Simonian's name. In 2020, German authorities seized €4.6 million from dozens of accounts he held across six banks, as well as real estate properties valued at €16.5 million. Dozens of antiquities, around 200 ancient gold coins valued at €400,000, and a collection of luxury watches were discovered at his villa in Hamburg. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, a major American institution, acquired a golden sarcophagus from the alleged trafficking ring.

We previously reported:

Two individuals were convicted in Hamburg of money laundering, ordered to forfeit €32 million, in a case linked to Serop Simonian.

Source: The Art Newspaper

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