Matthew Bogdanos is a distinguished American lawyer, military officer, author, and boxer who serves as a Colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve (retired) and heads the Antiquities Trafficking Unit in the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, specializing in art crime and cultural heritage protection. He has been an Assistant District Attorney in Manhattan since 1988, initially as a homicide prosecutor before shifting to specialized investigations. Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, he deployed to Afghanistan, earning a Bronze Star for actions against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. In 2003, while on active duty, he led the high-profile investigation into the looting of Iraq's National Museum during the U.S. invasion, recovering thousands of artifacts and earning the National Humanities Medal. After returning to civilian life in 2010, he founded and continues to lead the Antiquities Trafficking Unit—the world's only dedicated prosecutorial unit focused on illicit antiquities trade—which has investigated looted artworks, facilitated repatriations to countries including Iraq, Egypt, and Italy, and pursued cases against major auction houses and collectors. He is also an accomplished author, having co-written 'Thieves of Baghdad' about his Iraq investigation, and maintains a passion for boxing as a middleweight competitor.