The U.S Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts recently filed a civil forfeiture action against a document signed by Spanish conquistador Hernando Cortés in 1527 and stolen at least 30 years ago from the Mexico’s national archives in Mexico City.

According to a U.S. Department of Justice news release, the forfeiture action was filed Nov. 22. The release also noted receiving or transporting stolen property valued at more than $5,000 that has been involved in international commerce violates federal laws.

“As a result of exceptional work by the Asset Recovery Unit in our office and our law enforcement partners, this historic artifact has been recovered,” U.S. Attorney Rachael S. Rollins said in the news release. “Mexico, like the United States, has national archives and the Cortés manuscript is nearly five centuries old. Our goal in filing today's forfeiture action is to return the manuscript to its rightful owner.”

According to the news release, the document is a payment order signed by Cortés April 27, 1527, that allowed a pharmacy to purchase sugar for 12 gold pesos and is believed to be one of several documents stolen from the Archivo General de la Nación de México.

The Department of Justice noted the document was set to be put up for auction by a Massachusetts online auction house, and U.S. investigators were tipped off by Mexican authorities that the manuscript was stolen, the release reported.

According to the release, similar documents stolen from Mexico’s national archives were put up for auction in the U.S. last year and were recovered and returned to Mexico.