US officials plan to seize an ancient Roman sculpture from a New York City storage facility on behalf of Italian officials who say it was looted from Italy decades ago.
Authorities said in a complaint filed in federal court yesterday that the marble statue is believed to be one of the antiquities illegally obtained by Italian art dealer Gianfranco Becchina.
Becchina was convicted in 2011 of trafficking in plundered Roman artifacts.
Authorities say they don't know when the statue of a reclining half-clad female entered the U.S.
The New York Times (http://nyti.Ms/1eF1rHY ) says authorities began tracking it last year after learning it had been exhibited by Phoenix Ancient Art in Manhattan. A Phoenix lawyer says the gallery didn't own it and had exhibited it on behalf of a client.
