Museum of the Bible Being Investigated by Federal Gov't Over Artifact Acquisition

The Museum of the Bible confirmed this week that it is being investigation by the federal government for some ancient artifacts transported from Israel to the U.S. in 2011.

Cary Summers, president of the Museum of the Bible, recently told The Daily Beast that the museum is being investigated by the federal government over 200 to 300 small clay tablets dating back thousands of years.

The Green family, owners of the Hobby Lobby craft chain store, have reportedly been cooperating with the federal investigation for the past four years. The Green family helped start the Museum of the Bible, which is slated to open in Washington, D.C. in 2017.

The investigation concerns 200-300 clay tablets with cuneiform writing that were seized by custom officials in 2011 as they were en route to a Hobby Lobby-owned site in Oklahoma City.

The tablets, which were from Israel, are suspected of possibly being looted and illegally transported into the U.S.

Summers recently told The Daily Beast that the incident surrounds an issue of incomplete paperwork stemming from 2011, when the tablets were seized.

"There was a shipment and it had improper paperwork—incomplete paperwork that was attached to it," Summers recently told The Daily Beast.

Summers went on to say that the investigation has been a slow-moving process, adding: "Sometimes this stuff just sits, and nobody does anything with it."

The Hobby Lobby corporation added in a statement to Tulsa World that it is "cooperating" with the investigation.

"Hobby Lobby is cooperating with the investigation related to certain biblical artifacts," the company said in a statement. "The Museum of the Bible is a separate not-for-profit entity made possible, in part, by the generous charitable contributions of the Green family."