Oded Golan

Oded Golan (Hebrew: עודד גולן‎) (b. 1951 in Tel Aviv) is an Israeli engineer and artifact collector, who was placed on trial for forgery of antiquities. Some of the artifacts he has uncovered have produced great excitement in religious and archaeological circles, and have caused allegations of fraud and forgery. He was accused of faking the James Ossuary and other items in order to trap gullible collectors. 
On December 29, 2004, Golan was indicted in an Israeli court along with three other men - Robert Deutsch, an inscriptions expert who has lectured at the University of Haifa; collector Shlomo Cohen; and antiquities dealer Faiz al-Amaleh. They were accused of being part of a forgery ring that had been operating for more than 20 years. On March 14, 2012, the trial concluded with Golan's acquittal. Jerusalem Judge Aharon Farkash stated "that there is no evidence that any of the major artifacts were forged, and that the prosecution failed to prove their accusations beyond a reasonable doubt."
In late 2013, the Supreme Court ordered the State to return to Golan the James Ossuary, the Jehoash Inscription and hundreds of other items that had been confiscated by the IAA “for the purpose of investigation."
More information, including details of the court case, on the Wikipedia page .
Category:Biographies
Category:21st century