18 U.S.C. § 668 — Theft of major artwork

(a) Definitions. In this section: (1) “Museum” means an organized, permanent institution whose activities affect interstate or foreign commerce and that meets all of these conditions: (A) It is located in the United States. (B) It was established mainly for an educational or aesthetic purpose. (C) It has a professional staff. (D) It owns, uses, and cares for physical objects that it regularly exhibits to the public. (2) “Object of cultural heritage” means an object that is either more than 100 years old and worth more than $5,000, or worth at least $100,000. (b) Offenses. A person violates this section if the person does either of the following: (1) Steals an object of cultural heritage from a museum’s care, custody, or control, or gets such an object from the museum by fraud; or (2) Knows that an object of cultural heritage was stolen or obtained by fraud and, if the object was in fact stolen or obtained from a museum’s care, custody, or control, receives, hides, displays, or disposes of the object. The person does not need to know that the object was stolen or obtained from a museum. A person convicted under this section may be fined under title 18, imprisoned for up to 10 years, or both.