UK dealer jailed for secret art sales to suspected Hezbollah financier
A British art dealer once featured on BBC television has been sentenced to two years and six months in prison for concealing art sales to a Lebanese collector suspected of financing Hezbollah, a group banned as a terrorist organization in the UK.
Oghenochuko Ojiri, 53, who appeared on the BBC show Bargain Hunters and operated a London gallery, admitted to selling nearly 140,000 pounds (USD 190,000) worth of artwork to Nazem Ahmad between October 2020 and December 2021. Ahmad, a high-profile collector based in Lebanon, has been under US sanctions since 2019 over allegations of funding Hezbollah.
'You knew about Ahmad's suspected involvement in financing terrorism and the way the art market can be exploited by people like him,' Judge Bobbie Cheema-Grubb told Ojiri during sentencing at London's Old Bailey court.
Ojiri pleaded guilty to eight counts of failing to disclose information under the Terrorism Act—making him the first person in the UK convicted under this specific charge.
Prosecutors said the dealer was fully aware of UK sanctions against Ahmad and deliberately hid his identity by altering invoice records and saving his contact under a false name. 'His motivation appears to be financial along with a broader desire to boost his gallery's reputation within the art market by dealing with such a well-known collector,' said Bethan David of the Crown Prosecution Service's Counter Terrorism Division.
Ojiri's arrest came in April 2023, coinciding with a UK government announcement of new sanctions against Ahmad. His lawyer described the defendant as 'naive,' noting he was arrested while filming a BBC program.
Authorities also seized several valuable artworks, including pieces by Picasso and Andy Warhol, from UK storage facilities linked to Ahmad, in a coordinated operation with US Homeland Security.
'This case should act as a warning to all art dealers that we can, and will, prosecute those who knowingly do business with people identified as funders of terrorist groups,' said Dominic Murphy, who heads the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command.
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