Kim Kardashian West denies purchasing Ancient Roman sculpture in 2016

Kim Kardashian West has denied any knowledge of an Ancient Roman sculpture that was imported under her name in 2016.

The sculpture - which is known as Fragment of Myron's Athena - was part of a US$750,000 (S$1,003,000) shipment that was seized by customs officers because it was "looted, smuggled and illegally exported from Italy".

It dates back to the first century and was imported into Los Angeles in 2016 under Kim's name.

A spokesperson for the star said: "Kim never purchased this piece and this is the first that she has learned of its existence.

We believe it may have been purchased using her name without authorisation and because it was never received, she was unaware of the transaction. We encourage an investigation and hope that it gets returned to the rightful owners."

When custom officials quizzed the Noel Roberts Trust - the collective name for the trust, Freeman Group, Inc. and Kim Kardashian - they produced a receipt for a statue bought in Paris in 2012.

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However, officials don't believe that this statue is the one that was bought.

Court documents read: "The November 2012 Galerie Chenel invoice did not appear to be for the defendant's statute because the term 'a large draped statue' would refer to an entire/whole draped natural sized statue and a 'fragment of Myron Samian Athena' would refer to only a portion of a statue, which is what the defendant's statue is.

"In addition, the invoice that Masterpiece International provided to CBP contained handwritten notations indicating that the defendant's statue originated from Italy."

Italy has requested that the statue be returned to them.