We learned this week that Kim Kardashian was somewhat associated with a smuggled antiquity which is now being held by Customs. The antiquity is Fragment of Myron Samian Athena, a large fragment of a first-century sculpture which was likely smuggled out of Italy decades ago. The provenance of the piece is wack – it was in the hands of either an English or a German private collector, then sold to an art dealer, then bought by Belgian interior designer Axel Vervoordt, who designed Kim Kardashian and Kanye West’s LA home. From the Vervoordt gallery, the statue fragment and other art pieces and furniture were shipped to Kim in LA. At some point when the package made it onto American soil, Customs held on to it because the paperwork was all wrong, and now it looks like Kim will have to “forfeit” the antiquity and it will be returned to Italy. The thing is, Kim’s representative made a statement and denied that Kim even purchased it in the first place.

Kim Kardashian did not purchase an ancient Roman sculpture that federal authorities are trying to seize after it was imported to the U.S. five years ago, a representative for the reality TV star said Wednesday. Italian officials think the sculpture, described as “Fragment of Myron’s Samian Athena, Limestone, Roman, 1st – 2nd century A.D.,” was originally looted from Italy, and they want it returned, according to a civil complaint for forfeiture filed in federal court in Los Angeles last week.

The case dates to 2016, when the antique statue arrived at the Port of Los Angeles and immediately caught the attention of U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials. The broker provided a form to the CBP that listed the consignee, or buyer, and importer as “Kim Kardashian dba Noel Roberts Trust.” The shipment, described as containing antiques, furniture and decorations, had 40 pieces in all valued at $745,882, the filing says.

Speaking on Kardashian’s behalf, a representative told NBC News that “this is the first that she has learned of its existence. We believe it may have been purchased using her name without authorization and because it was never received, she was unaware of the transaction. We encourage an investigation and hope that it gets returned to the rightful owners,” the representative said.

[From NBC News]

That’s really interesting that Kim’s people are flatly denying, on the record, that she even purchased the statue and had no knowledge of it being shipped to her. It makes me believe even more that this was entirely a f–k up with Alex Vervoordt and his gallery and his people. Maybe the gallery didn’t intend to purchase looted/stolen antiquities, but they knew better than to purchase a piece with such a shady provenance, and they absolutely knew better than to basically forge documents to smuggle the piece out of the country. Damn.

Photos courtesy of Kim’s IG, cover courtesy of AD.