00:00American and European galleries received plunder from Southeast Asia for decades, stolen from
00:06Cambodia during its Civil War and the horrors of the Khmer Rouge.
00:10These masterworks became known as blood antiquities, and a single legal battle in New York blew
00:16the conspiracy wide open.
00:18When federal prosecutors fought Sotheby's to seize a 1,000-year-old statue valued at
00:23millions, they needed evidence on the ground.
00:26Enter Bradley Gordon, an American lawyer in Phnom Penh.
00:29His investigation led him deep into the Cambodian jungle to find Lion, codename for Tuk-Tik,
00:36a former Khmer Rouge child soldier turned master looter.
00:41Tuk-Tik could barely read or write, but he could navigate landmines and melt into the forest.
00:47He ran a massive looting network, harvesting priceless statues from ancient temples.
00:51The trail of stone and bronze led straight across the Thai border to a wealthy British
00:57collector in Bangkok, known to locals as Sia Ford.
01:00His real name?
01:01Douglas Latchford, the premier vendor of Southeast Asian art to billionaires and elite U.S. museums.
01:08Gordon's investigation transformed a single legal dispute into the exposure of one of the most
01:13outrageous art thefts in history.
01:15It reveals how a war-torn nation was systematically stripped of its heritage to decorate museums and
01:22mansions in the West.
01:23For more on this incredible global conspiracy, check out my new book, The Man Who Stole the Gods.
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