Italian coin dealer Italo Vecchi was arrested Wednesday in Manhattan for possessing $1 million worth of stolen coins.
Vecchi was charged with one count of grand larceny in the first degree, two counts of conspiracy in the fourth degree and second degree criminal possession of stolen property, among other charges.
The 75-year-old worked with British coin dealer Richard Beale, who was charged in March with defrauding $4.1 million of the world’s ‘rarest and most valuable’ coins.
He appeared in criminal court at 3 p.m. handcuffed and carrying a cane and was released within half an hour – leaving with his lawyer, defense attorney Georges Gilbert Lederman.
The district attorney’s office agreed to release him on his own recognizance.
Vecchi (centre) arrived at the criminal court at 3pm with a cane, and was released within half an hour – leaving the courtroom alongside his lawyer, defense attorney Georges Gilbert Lederman (left).
Made to celebrate the assassination of Julius Caesar, this 2000-year-old Roman coin was sold by Bill in October 2020 for a record-breaking $4.1 million – the highest price ever paid for an ancient coin at auction.
The professional coin dealer is also accused of falsifying the provenance of the Sicilian Naxos silver coin, minted around 430 BC, which Biel sold for $293,000 at the same auction in March.
Between 2013 and 2014, Vecchi, who is an Italian citizen living in the UK, allegedly sold two rare coins to Bill without proof.
One of the coins was referred to as the ‘Eid Mar’ coin, a reference to an ancient Roman gold coin to celebrate the assassination of Julius Caesar on March 15, 44 BC in 42 BC.
Made to celebrate the assassination of Julius Caesar, this 2,000-year-old Roman coin was sold by Beal in October 2020 for a record-breaking $4.1 million – the highest price ever paid for an ancient coin at auction.
But Beale, 38, is accused of falsifying documents about the coin’s ownership history, known as its ‘invention’, to make it more valuable and allow him to fetch a higher price for it.
Another coin, known as the ‘Sicily Naxos’ coin, was minted around 430 BC and is allegedly one of the ‘world’s rarest and most valuable ancient coins’.
According to court documents, Vecchi has been selling illegal currency for decades.
In 1992, the defendant was arrested by United States Customs officials for attempting to smuggle undeclared ancient Greek coins into the United States in his briefcase.
And then in 2012, the defendant also forged a 4th BCE silver coin, called the Akragus dekadrachm, which sold for a million dollars at the annual New York International Numismatics Convention.
Italo Vecchi (pictured) is seen leaving a criminal court in Manhattan after being charged with possessing more than a million dollars worth of stolen currency.
Between 2013 and 2014, Vecchi (centre), an Italian citizen living in the UK, allegedly sold two rare coins to Bill without proof.
According to court documents, Vecchi has been selling illegal currency for decades
‘The defendant and his co-conspirators … deceived potential buyers by creating false proofs of the Eid Mar coin and the Sicilian Naxos coin so that both coins were seen as legitimate and set a fixed value,’ court documents read. .
Beale, owner of London-based auction house Roma Numismatics, has alleged falsification of ownership records for two ancient coins sold at the 2020 auction, including the Eid Mar coin.
Vecchi worked as a consulting expert on Roma numismatics,
According to the complaint, Beale and Vecchi ‘deceived potential buyers by creating false proofs of the Eid Mar coin and the Sicilian Naxos coin to make both coins appear to be legitimate and set a fixed price.’
In 2014, Biel was given the coveted Eid Mar coins to sell by his ‘co-conspirator’ Vecchi, who was detained by US Customs in 1992 for trying to smuggle ancient Greek coins into the country, according to the indictment.
Richard Beale, owner of London-based auction house Roma Numismatics, alleged that he had sold two ancient coins his ownership records.
But Beale, 38, is accused of falsifying documents about the coin’s ownership history, known as its ‘invention’, to make it more valuable and allow him to fetch a higher price for it.
Bill was charged in January with grand larceny in the first degree and criminal possession of stolen property in the first degree on top of eight other counts. He faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted.
According to Special Agent Brenton Easter, the auction house owner ‘admitted to me that he had paid for the original’ but said ‘this was the first and only time. [he] Ever paid for evidence’.
When an informant told Beale before the auction that the coin’s original proof was false, Vecchi and Beale offered 100,000 Swiss francs to sign their original documents, which was rejected.
A professional coin dealer accused of falsifying the provenance of a Sicilian Naxos silver coin, minted around 430 BC, sold for $293,000 at the same auction as in the March of Biel.
It is also alleged that Bell bought five coins in 2018 ‘from a convicted antiquities smuggler’ which came from the ‘Gaza hoard’ – a cache of ancient coins looted in the Gaza Strip in 2017 before being ‘trafficked to Israel and eventually to London’. .
The indictment alleges that Bill sold these newly looted coins through Roma Numismatics under false pretenses ‘from a private Canadian collection’.
Vecchi’s next court appearance is scheduled for September 7 at 9:00 a.m.
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