Billionaire Hobby Lobby boss under federal investigation for possibly smuggling hundreds of Middle Eastern biblical artifacts to be exhibited in their 'Museum of the Bible'
- The Green family has been under investigation for the last four years
- In
2011 US Customs seized nearly 300 clay tablets containing cuneiform script, which emerged in present-day Iraq thousands of years ago - Tablets were meant to be delivered to Hobby Lobby headquarters in Oklahoma City
- The family had labeled the tablets to be worth a total of $300 and described them as 'hand-crafted clay tiles'
- The Greens have a 40,000-piece collection of artifacts meant for the Museum of the Bible, a nonprofit museum they funded
The billionaire owners of Hobby Lobby are being investigated for the possibly smuggling of hundreds of ancient Middle Eastern biblical artifacts.
The Greens have amassed 40,000 artifacts for a collection they plan to place in the Museum of the Bible, a Washington D.C. nonprofit museum funded by the family.
But now it's been revealed by The Daily Beast that the family has been under federal investigation for the last four years, specifically for unlawfully importing ancient Iraq tablets that were thousands of years old.
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Hobby Lobby owners the Green family are under federal investigation for possibly smuggling hundreds of small clay tablets (pictured) that are thousands of years old and date back to Mesopotamia, present-day Iraq
Billionaire and Hobby Lobby CEO Steve Green (pictured with his wife Barbara) and his family have amassed 40,000 artifacts for a collection they plan to place in the Museum of the Bible
The investigation began in 2011, after US Customs in Memphis seized nearly 300 small clay tablets that were supposed to be delivered to the Hobby Lobby headquarters in Oklahoma City.
The tablets contained cuneiform script, one of the earliest known systems of writing.
It emerged in the ancient civilization of Sumer in Mesopotamia, known today as Iraq.
Museum of the Bible president Cary Summers confirmed to The Daily Beast that the family was under investigation for the seized
The tablets contained cuneiform script, one of the earliest known systems of writing. It emerged in the ancient civilization of Sumer in Mesopotamia, known today as Iraq (file photo)
The tablets were shipped from Israel to the US in 2011. An individual close the investigation told The Daily Beast that hundreds of hours of interviews have been accumulated regarding the case (file photo)
Museum of the Bible president Cary Summers confirmed to The Daily Beast that the family was under investigation for the seized
'There was a shipment and it had improper paperwork,' he said. 'Incomplete paperwork that was attached to it.'
'Sometimes this stuff just sits, and nobody does anything with it.'
But an individual
And another source said the Greens only assigned a monetary value of $300 to the tablets they titled 'hand-crafted clay tiles' on their FedEx shipping label.
The Washington, D.C. nonprofit museum was funded by the Greens and is slated to open in 2017
This both hid the artifacts cultural identity and was a vast underestimate of their monetary value, according to the Daily Beast.
Shipments valued over $2,500 are required to undergo formal entry through US Customs and Border Protection, a much more extensive process than the expedited informal entry.
Hobby Lobby CEO Steve Green told The Daily Beast it's possible his family's collection contains some 'illicit' artifacts, but if it does it is without his knowledge.
The Green family has accumulated a $4.5billion fortune since launching their craft store in 1970, with more than 600 shops now
But it wasn't until last year that the chain shot into the headlines, winning a landmark Supreme Court case that ruled they were exempt from providing birth control to employees due to their Christian beliefs.
Green told The Daily Beast it's possible his family's collection contains some 'illicit' artifacts, but if it does it is without his knowledge
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