Hobby Lobby

===Smuggling and collections management controversies===
{{main|Hobby Lobby smuggling scandal}}
Beginning in 2009, representatives of Hobby Lobby were warned that artifacts they were purchasing were probably looted from Iraq.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A537149082/STND?u=baltctycpl&sid=STND&xid=55faf870|title=United States Returns Thousands of Ancient Artifacts to Iraq|date=May 3, 2018|work=Targeted News Service|access-date=April 13, 2020}}</ref> The purchases had been made for the [[Museum of the Bible]], which the company was sponsoring. In early July 2017, US federal prosecutors filed a civil complaint in the [[Eastern District of New York]] under the case name ''United States of America v. Approximately Four Hundred Fifty Ancient Cuneiform Tablets and Approximately Three Thousand Ancient Clay Bullae''.<ref name=GreenAtlantic>{{cite news|first=Emma|last=Green|title=Hobby Lobby Purchased Thousands of Ancient Artifacts Smuggled Out of Iraq|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/07/hobby-lobby-smuggled-thousands-of-ancient-artifacts-out-of-iraq/532743/|date=2017-07-05}}</ref> On July 5, 2017, Hobby Lobby consented to a settlement requiring forfeiture of the artifacts, the payment of a fine of $3 million, and the return of over 5500 artifacts.<ref>{{cite news |last1=James |first1=Mike |title=Hobby Lobby fined $3M over 5,500 smuggled Iraqi artifacts |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2017/07/05/hobby-lobby-fined-3m-over-smuggled-iraqi-artifacts/103457614/ |access-date=November 18, 2019 |publisher=USA Today |date=July 6, 2017}}</ref><ref name="nyt-artifacts">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/05/nyregion/hobby-lobby-artifacts-smuggle-iraq.html|title=Hobby Lobby Agrees to Forfeit 5,500 Artifacts Smuggled Out of Iraq|last=Feuer|first=Alan|date=2017-07-05|work=The New York Times|access-date=2017-07-06|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.politico.com/story/2017/07/05/hobby-lobby-fine-iraq-240245|title=Hobby Lobby agrees to $3 million fine, forfeiture of thousands of Iraqi relics|first=Diamond Naga|last=Siu|website=Politico|date=5 July 2017 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/spotlight-hobby-lobby-s-biblical-collection-after-smuggle-case-n780286|title=Spotlight on Hobby Lobby's Biblical Collection After Smuggle Case|date=July 6, 2017|first1=Tracy|last1=Connor|first2=Daniel|last2=Arkin|publisher=[[NBC News]]|access-date=May 30, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite press release |url=https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/ice-returns-thousands-ancient-artifacts-seized-hobby-lobby-iraq|title=ICE returns thousands of ancient artifacts seized from Hobby Lobby to Iraq|date=February 5, 2018|publisher=U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement|access-date=May 30, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=James |first1=Mike |title=Hobby Lobby fined $3M over 5,500 smuggled Iraqi artifacts |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2017/07/05/hobby-lobby-fined-3m-over-smuggled-iraqi-artifacts/103457614/ |access-date=18 November 2019 |work=[[USA Today]] |date=6 July 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=McGlone|first=Peggy|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/nation-world/ct-hobby-lobby-artifacts-iraq-20180502-story.html |title=Hobby Lobby forced to return artifacts to Iraq|date=May 2, 2018|work=[[Chicago Tribune]] |agency=[[The Washington Post]]|access-date=April 13, 2020}}</ref>

In April 2020, the centerpiece of the Museum of the Bible's collection, the fragments of the [[Dead Sea Scrolls]], were declared to be fakes.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Mashberg|first=Tom|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/05/arts/bible-museum-artifacts.html |title=Bible Museum, Admitting Mistakes, Tries to Convert Its Critics|date=April 6, 2020|work=The New York Times|access-date=15 May 2020}}</ref> After its authenticity was questioned, the museum removed the display of a miniature bible which a [[NASA]] astronaut had purportedly carried to the moon.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Miller |first1=Ken |title=Museum of the Bible quietly replaces questioned artifact |url=https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/museum-bible-quietly-replaces-questioned-133334693.html |access-date=18 November 2019 |publisher=[[Yahoo! Lifestyle]] |agency=[[Associated Press]] |date=5 October 2019}}</ref>

Board chairman Steve Green, who is also president of the Hobby Lobby stores, also announced the museum would be returning over eleven thousand artifacts to Egypt and Iraq. The collection included thousands of papyrus scraps and ancient clay pieces. [[University of Manchester]] [[papyrology|papyrologist]], [[Roberta Mazza]], stated that the Green family "poured millions on the legal and illegal antiquities market without having a clue about the history, the material features, cultural value, fragilities, and problems of the objects".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Cascone |first1=Sarah |title=Amid Scrutiny, the Museum of the Bible's Founder Will Return a Staggering 11,500 Artifacts of Dubious Origin to the Middle East |url=https://news.artnet.com/art-world/museum-of-bible-founder-returns-more-ancient-artifacts-1819623 |access-date=18 April 2020 |publisher=ArtNet News |date=30 March 2020}}</ref>

In January 2021, the chairman of the board of the Museum of the Bible, Steve Green, released the following statement: “We transferred control of the fine art storage facility that housed the 5,000 Egyptian items to the U.S. government as part of a voluntary administrative process. We understand the U.S. government has now delivered the papyri to Egyptian officials". That was in addition to 8000 clay objects transferred to Baghdad's Iraq Museum.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Goldstein |first1=Caroline |title=The Museum of the Bible Must Once Again Return Artifacts, This Time an Entire Warehouse of 5,000 Egyptian Objects |url=https://news.artnet.com/art-world/museum-bible-returns-objects-egypt-1940432 |access-date=31 January 2021 |publisher=Artnet |date=29 January 2021}}</ref>

The returned items include the "Gilgamesh Dream Tablet", containing part of the ''[[Epic of Gilgamesh]]'', discovered in Iraq in 1853, sold by the Jordanian Antiquities Association to an antiquities dealer in 2003,<ref>{{Cite news|last=Meier|first=Martin Gottlieb With Barry|date=2003-05-01|title=Aftereffects: The Plunder; Of 2,000 Treasures Stolen in Gulf War of 1991, Only 12 Have Been Recovered|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/01/world/aftereffects-plunder-2000-treasures-stolen-gulf-war-1991-only-12-have-been.html|access-date=2020-05-19|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> and sold again by [[Christie's]] auction house to Hobby Lobby in 2014, for $1.6 million. The auction house lied about how the artifact had entered the market, claiming it had been on the market in the United States for decades. In September 2019, federal authorities seized the tablet, and in May 2020, a civil complaint was filed to forfeit it.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Authorities announce forfeiture of ancient Gilgamesh tablet from Hobby Lobby's Museum of the Bible|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/authorities-announce-forfeiture-gilgamesh-tablet-hobby-lobby-s-museum-bible-n1209851|last=Stelloh|first=Tim|date=18 May 2020|website=NBC News|language=en|access-date=19 May 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Civil action filed to forfeit rare cuneiform tablet from Hobby Lobby|url=https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/civil-action-filed-forfeit-rare-cuneiform-tablet-hobby-lobby|website=www.ice.gov|language=en|access-date=2020-05-19}}</ref> In July 2021 the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York officially ordered the forfeiture of the tablet by Hobby Lobby.<ref>{{cite web |title=Rare Cuneiform Tablet Bearing Portion of Epic of Gilgamesh Forfeited to United States |date=27 July 2021 |url=https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/rare-cuneiform-tablet-bearing-portion-epic-gilgamesh-forfeited-united-states |publisher=U.S. Department of Justice |access-date=8 April 2023}}</ref> Acting U.S. Attorney Jacquelyn M. Kasulis, for the Eastern District of New York, stated: “This office is committed to combating the black-market sale of cultural property and the smuggling of looted artifacts”. Hobby Lobby failed to follow expert advice on antiquities collecting which has resulted in multiple seizures and fines.<ref>{{cite web |title=Rare Cuneiform Tablet Bearing Portion of Epic of Gilgamesh Forfeited to United States |url=https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/rare-cuneiform-tablet-bearing-portion-epic-gilgamesh-forfeited-united-states |website=United States Department of Justice |date=27 July 2021 |access-date=28 July 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Stieb |first1=Matt |title=DOJ Seizes Tablet of Stolen 'Epic of Gilgamesh' From Hobby Lobby |url=https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/07/doj-seizes-hobby-lobbys-stolen-piece-of-epic-of-gilgamesh.html |access-date=28 July 2021 |publisher=New York Magazine}}</ref>