The company spokesfolk did a little herp-derp, how could we possibly know that the antiquities field is full of dodgy people who steal things from archaeological sites, that we should actual verify the story they told us, and that wiring our money to multiple accounts and receiving the goods in multiple, small, misleadingly labeled shipments was a warning sign?
So one can either believe that the operators of one of the nation's largest craft and hobby retailers simply got in over their head when it came time to indulge their "Museum of the Bible" impulses, or that they knew exactly what they were doing, and simply got caught at it.
In any case, they'll be paying $3M for the privilege and turning the questioned $1.6M collection of unprovenanced artifacts back to Iraq. Though for a corporation that does $4B in revenue per year, that sting probably won't hurt too much.
More on the story:
— https://consumerist.com/2017/07/05/hobby-lobby-agrees-to-turn-over-thousands-of-ancient-iraqi-artifacts-that-were-smuggled-into-u-s/
— https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/07/hobby-lobby-smuggled-thousands-of-ancient-artifacts-out-of-iraq/532743/?utm_source=atlgp
Hobby Lobby fined $3 million for artifacts smuggled from Iraq
Hobby Lobby describes itself as a Christian business. It gained fame in a 2014 Supreme Court case challenging contraceptive coverage under the Affordable Care Act.
You mean they can't just claim that complying with laws related to artifact smuggling is a violation of their religious principles?
/s