(UnitedVoice.com) – Buying stolen property is a crime whether the person knows it’s stolen or not. Repeatedly buying stolen property is a surefire way to end up in jail — unless the buyer is a billionaire apparently.
On December 6, Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance, Jr. announced billionaire Michael Steinhardt had surrendered 180 stolen antiquities valued at $70 million. The DA revealed the hedge-fund manager had spent decades collecting the artifacts. Steinhardt claims he thought the items were all legally owned by the sellers. Vance said the pieces were illegally smuggled out of 11 countries.
Hedge fund legend Michael Steinhardt “received a first-of-its-kind lifetime ban on acquiring antiquities"https://t.co/TzmydHEALb
— TheStreet (@TheStreet) December 6, 2021
Vance gave Steinhardt a sweetheart deal instead of filing charges against him. All the billionaire had to do to avoid an indictment was surrender the goods and agree to a lifetime ban on acquiring antiquities. The DA said Steinhardt bought the artifacts “without concern for the legality of his actions” or the “grievous cultural damage” he caused across the world. And yet, he won’t spend a day in jail for his alleged crimes. Vance claimed prosecution was harder than just forcing the accused to hand over the goods so they could be returned to their rightful owners. Of course, an average American is rarely, if ever, given a deal like that.
Steinhardt is a well-known political donor. Although he’s given quite a bit of money to Republicans, his 2020 donations were almost exclusively to Democrats. Vance is also a Democrat. Does that have anything to do with the sweet deal the billionaire was given? Who knows, but the Manhattan DA certainly doesn’t see any issue with attacking former President Donald Trump, even though there’s zero evidence he ever committed any crimes.
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