U.S. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) is urging the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network to finalize long-delayed regulations requiring antiquities dealers to comply with anti-money-laundering rules, saying the lack of oversight enables looted artifacts to help finance terrorism and organized crime.
In a June 3 letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and FinCEN Director Andrea Gacki, Fetterman said Congress required FinCEN to issue rules governing the antiquities trade under the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020, but the agency has yet to finalize them.
He cited reports linking the trafficking of looted antiquities to Iran, ISIS, Houthi terrorists in Yemen and criminal cartels, noting that U.S. Customs and Border Protection recently intercepted Bronze Age artifacts originating from Iran.
“The use of looted antiquities for illicit finance and terror-funding is a serious national security concern,” Fetterman wrote. “Experts in this field note that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and other elements in the Iranian terrorist regime may be actively looting Iran’s cultural heritage.”
The senator requested a response from Bessent and Gacki by July 2.
