Italy Is Investigating Curator at Princeton Art Museum, Document Shows

Italian authorities have launched a criminal investigation focusing on an antiquities curator at the Princeton University Museum of Art, who they allege was involved in the “export and laundering” of stolen Italian artifacts, The New York Times reported today. According to an Italian legal document, the curator, J. Michael Padgett, aided a Princeton alumnus and art dealer who “sold, donated, or lent” looted artifacts to the Princeton museum. Mr. Padgett denies the allegations, and Princeton, which returned several museum objects to Italy in 2007 after an unrelated investigation, said it was conducting its own investigation.