38 LAWYERMONTHLYMARCH 2023 In much the same vein, the entry of cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) into mainstream economy has reconfigured traditional approaches to law and dispute resolution in the art market. It has blurred the contours of contract and fraud law, allowing their substantive provisions to bleed into one another. For instance, we are seeing litigation play out in which digital assets are increasingly implicated in disputes relating to fraudulent misrepresentation vis-à-vis the provision of services. Evidently, cases of this nature require holistic, sophisticated solutions that draw on expertise in the criminal law in addition to traditional commercial principles. On the international stage, the nexus between organised crime and the trafficking of cultural property is becoming increasingly visible. Over the past decade, terrorism networks have carried out acts of mass pillage at cultural heritage sites across the Middle East and South-Central Asia. Very often, the looted assets have been commodified and smuggled into western art markets with the assistance of collaborators in various jurisdictions. For example, during Daesh’s occupation of large swathes of Iraq and Syria in 2014-19 countless Assyrian, Mesopotamian and GraecoRoman artworks were reported to have been trafficked nautically into Europe. More recently, Taliban rule in Afghanistan has seen a rise in the illicit export of Hellenic and Buddhist statues across the porous border into Pakistan, and from there into the Middle East, Europe, and the US, where they sell for millions often Art market participants would do well to keep an eye of the novel challenges looming on the horizon. About Libertas Chambers Libertas Chambers are specialists in business crime, professional discipline and asset recovery. Its team offers a range of expertise across a national presence. Libertas Chambers emphasises its modern approach to legal services, utilising new technology and a streamlined business model to assist major corporates, financial institutions and individual clients in complex cases.
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