Displaying items by tag: Stolen

James Meyer, a former studio assistant to the contemporary artist Jasper Johns, was arrested on Wednesday, August 14, 2013 for stealing 22 unauthorized works, which he then sold through an unnamed art gallery in Manhattan. Meyer, who worked at Johns’ studio in Connecticut from 1985 to 2012, made $3.4 million off of the sales, which totaled $6.5 million.

Meyer was assigned to protecting the works that Johns did not want sold but ended up creating fake inventory numbers and false documents for the paintings, which he photographed inside a binder that catalogued Johns’ authorized works. Meyer told the gallery in New York that he had received the paintings from Johns as a present and offered notarized documents that supported his claim.

Meyer could spend anywhere from 10 to 20 years in prison and has been accused of transporting stolen good across state lines and wire fraud.

On Tuesday, August 13, 2013 a Bucharest court adjourned the trial of six Romanians charged with stealing seven paintings from the Kunsthal Museum in Rotterdam. Immediately following opening proceedings, the court president postponed the trial to September 10^th, allowing more time for legal issues, such as bail requests, to be examined. Although short, the suspects’ court appearance was not uneventful.

Shortly before the hearing opened, Ragu Dogaru’s lawyer offered on behalf of his client to return five of the stolen works in return for being tried in the Netherlands rather than Romania where punishments for robbery are more severe. Earlier this year rumors began to circulate that Dogaru’s mother, Olga, had incinerated the stolen paintings in her stove in an attempt to protect her son. While it has not been confirmed that Dogaru is actually in possession of any of the masterpieces, his offer could suggest that five of the works are still intact.

Last October, the thieves made off with Pablo Picasso’s Tete d’Arlequin, Claude Monet’s Waterloo Bridge, London and Charing Cross Bridge, London, Henri Matisse’s La Liseuse en Blanc et Jaune, Paul Gauguin’s Femme devant une fenetre ouverte, dite la Fiancee, Meyer de Haan’s Autoportrait, and Lucian Freud’s Woman with Eyes Closed. The works were on loan from the Triton Foundation to celebrate the Kunsthal Museum’s 20^th anniversary.

The total value of the haul, which is being called the “theft of the century” in the Netherlands, is $24 million according to prosecutors. Despite their high value and incredible importance, none of the paintings were equipped with alarms.

Experts investigating the catastrophic art heist that rattled the Netherlands in October 2013 have found the burned remains of at least three oil paintings in a home belonging to the mother of one of the chief suspects. Olga Dogaru, who had previously admitted to burning the works and then withdrew her claim, originally said that she incinerated the canvases – two Monets and one Picasso – in an attempt to protect her son.

Investigators found traces of three or four paintings in ashes taken from a wood-burning stove along with nails and tacks. Ernest Oberlaender-Tarnoveanu, head of Romania’s National History Museum, which analyzed the contents of the stove, said, “The number and the type of nails we found (in the ashes) indicate that we have at least three paintings there. There are also tacks that could belong to a fourth one.” While investigators did find the remains of burned oil paintings, it is yet to be determined whether or not they are the same works that were stolen from the Kunsthal Museum.

Dogaru, her son, Radu, and four other Romanians will go on trial on Tuesday, August 13, 2013 in Bucharest. The thieves made off with Pablo Picasso’s Tete d’Arlequin, Claude Monet’s Waterloo Bridge, London and Charing Cross Bridge, London, Henri Matisse’s La Liseuse en Blanc et Jaune, Paul Gauguin’s Femme devant une fenetre ouverte, dite la Fiancee, Meyer de Haan’s Autoportrait, and Lucian Freud’s Woman with Eyes Closed. The works were on loan from the Triton Foundation to celebrate the Kunsthal Museum’s 20^th anniversary.

Four of the stolen works were oil paintings and three – including Pablo Picasso’s Tete d’Arlequin and Claude Monet’s Waterloo Bridge – were either pastel or colored ink on paper and would be impossible to identify if burned.

The San Diego Sheriff’s Department released a statement on Tuesday, August, 6, 2013 asking for the public’s help in finding sculptures, jewelry and nearly a dozen paintings that were stolen from a Rancho Santa Fe home on either June 17^th or June 18^th. The unknown suspects made off with over $5 million in valuables that included Chinese sculptures, elaborate custom jewelry made from gold, diamonds, tourmaline and other precious gems as well as a print by Claude Monet and one by Camille Pissarro.

While detectives have not revealed the name of the homeowner or the specific address of the ransacked home, the residence was unoccupied at the time of the theft. Investigators are hoping that help from the public will allow them to locate the stolen goods and identify suspects. Authorities are offering a $1,000 reward for any useful information leading to an arrest.

Sometime after 1994, a former employee of Sweden’s National Library stole approximately 56 rare antique books once belonging to the country’s royal family. The thief, Anders Burius, eventually confessed to the theft, consigned the objects to the German auction house, Ketterer Kunst, and subsequently committed suicide.

In 1998, investigators were able to track 13 of the stolen volumes from Ketterer Kunst to the U.S. where Stephan Loewentheil, a Baltimore-based book dealer, bought two of the volumes, unaware that they were stolen. On Wednesday, July 24, 2013, the FBI were finally able to return the objects to the Swedish government, whereby officials honored Loewentheil for his assistance in recovering the books.

The recovered books include a 19^th century German volume about the Mississippi River by Henry Lewis and a 17^th century French book about the Louisiana territory by Louis Hennepin. The latter features the first published description of Niagara Falls and the first published landscape of the Louisiana Territory.

While Sweden and the National Library are thrilled to have the volumes back, a large portion of the works stolen by Burius are still missing.

Pedro Luis Enriquez who goes by the nickname “El Loco” or “the Madman” has pleaded guilty to stealing $15 million worth of jewelry and watches from Provident Jewelry in Jupiter, Florida.

Investigators believe that three people were involved in the heist that took place on January 22, 2011 although Enriquez, 41, was the only suspect who has been apprehended. The thieves used a jackhammer-style tool and a high-pressure cutting torch to open a vault surrounded by 10 inches of reinforced concrete. Inside the vault, police found an open bottle of wine and a small flashlight, which contained DNA matching Enriquez’s.

Miami-Dade County Police have recovered 170 of the 1,6000 pieces of jewelry, loose stones and watches that were stolen; four arrests have been made in connection to the trafficking of the stolen goods.

Investigators received their first break in the case three weeks after the robbery when one of the stolen loose stones turned up at the Gemological Institute of America in New York. Police tracked the stone to a pawnshop in Miami and were able to recover another 100 stones.

Enriquez, who will serve 15 years in prison, has not volunteered any information about the heist or his accomplices.

Olga Dogaru, a Romanian woman who told investigators that she burned seven modern art masterpieces to protect her son, denied her claim in court on Monday, July 22, 2013. Dogaru’s son, Radu, was one of six suspects involved in the Kunsthal Museum heist, the biggest art-related robbery to take place in the Netherlands in years.

During the hearing, Dogaru alleged that she “made up” the story about incinerating $130 million worth of art in a desperate attempt to guard her son, who had admitted to stealing the paintings last October. If she is found guilty of “destruction with very serious consequences” Dogaru could serve up to 30 to years in prison under Romanian law. Last week, news circulated that forensic investigators had found trace evidence in the ash in Dogaru’s stove.

The heist took place on October 16, 2013 and proceeded to shake the art world. The six suspects made off with Pablo Picasso’s Tete d’Arlequin, Claude Monet’s Waterloo Bridge, London and Charing Cross Bridge, London, Henri Matisse’s La Liseuse en Blanc et Jaune, Paul Gauguin’s Femme devant une fenetre ouverte, dite la Fiancee, Meyer de Haan’s Autoportrait, and Lucian Freud’s Woman with Eyes Closed in less than 90 seconds. The works were on loan from the Triton Foundation to celebrate the Kunsthal Museum’s 20^th anniversary.

The suspects will stand trial next month.    

The mother of Radu Doragu, one of the suspects in the Kunsthal Museum art heist, admitted to burning seven stolen paintings including works by Pablo Picasso and Claude Monet. She said that she incinerated the works, which were valued at $130 million to “destroy any evidence.”

Doragu along with five other Romanians are accused of stealing Picasso’s Tete d’Arlequin, Monet’s Waterloo Bridge, London and Charing Cross Bridge, London, Henri Matisse’s La Liseuse en Blanc et Jaune, Paul Gauguin’s Femme devant une fenetre ouverte, dite la Fiancee, Meyer de Haan’s Autoportrait, and Lucian Freud’s Woman with Eyes Closed from the Kunsthal Museum in Rotterdam. The works were taken on October 16, 2012 in less than 90 seconds.

The suspects will stand trial in August for what is being called one of the most significant thefts in history.

Six Romanians will stand trial over the heist that took place at Rotterdam’s Kunsthal Museum this past October. Seven major paintings by artists such as Pablo Picasso, Claude Monet, and Henri Matisse were stolen during the robbery – the largest in years for the Netherlands.

The lifted works include Picasso’s Tete d’Arlequin, Matisse’s La Liseuse en Blanc et Jaune and Monet’s Waterloo Bridge, London and Charing Cross Bridge, London, which were on loan from the Triton Collection and on view as part of an exhibition celebrating the museum’s 20^th anniversary. The paintings, which have not been recovered, are valued at more than $130 million. In May, investigators were analyzing ashes found in the home of one of the suspect’s mothers, raising fears that the works may have been incinerated.

Radu Dogaru and Adrian Procop are accused of masterminding the theft. Dogaru and several other suspects have been in custody since January 2013, while Procop remains at large. A date for the trial has not been set.

Catherine Hutin-Blay, the daughter of Pablo Picasso’s (1881-1973) second wife, claims that a handyman stole over 400 of the artist’s sketches and watercolors from her. Hutin-Blay inherited a sizable chunk of Picasso’s oeuvre when her mother passed away as well as the home in the south of France where her stepfather and mother are buried.

Hutin-Blay believes that between 2005 and 2007 Freddy Munchenbach made off with 407 Picasso originals. She became suspicious after a number of works surfaced at auction in 2011. Munchenbach worked as a handyman for Hutin-Blay as well as the daughter of Picasso’s art dealer, who noticed pieces were missing from her own collection.  

The works, which are said to be worth less than $3,000 altogether, carry a much lower estimate than other Picasso works. The thief will most likely be unable to sell the works as collectors rarely buy art lacking authenticity, provenance and a legal title.