Art crime
Trial of Parisian antiques dealer accused of forging French furniture delayed due to ill health
93-year-old Jean Lupu, who allegedly faked 17th- and 18th-century royal furniture, and his wife say they are unable to stand trial due to illness and stress
Warhol and Pollock works stolen by American crime ring may not have been destroyed, authorities reveal
Statements by one member of a crime ring that struck 20 different institutions over two decades have restored hope that not all the loot was destroyed
Italian painter arrested as investigations continue in Old Master forgery scandal
Lino Frongia is suspected of producing the fakes that sold for millions of euros
Douglas Latchford’s estate hands over $12m to settle US trafficking case
The late antiquities dealer was accused of profiting off stolen Cambodian antiquities
California man found guilty of smuggling ancient Roman mosaic looted from Syria into US
Mohamad Alcharihi faces up to two years in prison and will be sentenced at the end of August
German restitution commission recommends Bavarian bank return Kandinsky painting to heirs of former Jewish owners
Kandinsky’s "A Colorful Life" (1907), which had belonged to collectors Emanuel and Hedwig Lewenstein, was sold in a 1940 Amsterdam auction
Rogues’ gallery? Three reasons why the art market is vulnerable to wrongdoing
Lavish lifestyles, misplaced confidence and the wish to keep up with billionaire clients can all wreak financial havoc
Dynamite Doug podcast is a pioneer in ‘looted heritage’ genre—but not its peak
The programme offers a compelling narrative for art crime beginners but more depth is needed when it comes to colonial repatriation
Palm Beach art dealer sentenced to over two years in prison for blue-chip art fraud scheme
Victims spent “tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars” on counterfeit art sold by the dealer, according to the US Department of Justice
Climate protestors who targeted US National Gallery of Art’s Degas sculpture face prison time
The two protesters have have been indicted by federal prosecutors on charges of conspiracy
Artist who falsely claimed Native American heritage sentenced to 18 months’ probation
The Seattle-based artist had pleaded guilty to violating the federal Indian Arts and Crafts Act
How a lawsuit over a jointly owned Anna Weyant painting is making opaque art market structures more transparent
Governments are increasingly aware of the risks involved with using shell companies and other complex dealings to trade art
Five men from Berlin crime family sentenced for £100m Dresden jewel heist
Two of the men on trial were previously found guilty of stealing a giant gold coin from Berlin’s Bode Museum in 2017
New York adviser Lisa Schiff reportedly shuts business amid clients’ $2m lawsuit
The outspoken adviser appears to have closed her Tribeca gallery and is unreachable amid accusations that she defrauded collectors of profits from the sale of an Adrian Ghenie painting
Former OpenSea employee found guilty in first-ever NFT insider trading trial
Former OpenSea product manager Nathanie Chastain has been convicted of wire fraud and money laundering in a landmark case
New York collector sues his lawyer for allegedly stealing Warhol canvas
The collector, Stuart Pivar, claims he sold the 1977 portrait of himself to his lawyer for $100,000 because he needed cash quickly; he is now suing that lawyer for $10m
Bored Ape Yacht Club creators score legal victory in lawsuit against artists who made copycat NFT collection
Yuga Labs has won a partial victory in its legal dispute with artists Ryder Ripps and Jeremy Cahen; the decision could impact future copyright copyright rules in Web3
A fugitive art dealer convicted of selling counterfeit art 14 years ago has been extradited to the US
Angela Catherine Hamblin, who has been hiding out in a small village in Scotland for over a decade, is being extradited to the US
First-ever insider trading trial over NFTs set to begin in Manhattan court
A former OpenSea employee has been accused of insider trading; the outcome of the case may change the meaning of that phrase forever
Brazil’s Red List gives green light to federal action on heritage smuggling
President Lula’s government has joined forces with Icom in an effort to halt illegal trafficking of the country’s ancient artefacts
Art and diamond dealer accused of funding Hezbollah is charged with evading US sanctions
Nazem Ahmad, a Lebanese businessman who deals in art and diamonds, has allegedly been involved in moving goods worth more than $440m into and out of the US since sanctions were imposed in late 2019
Former Art Institute of Chicago employee pleads guilty to embezzling $2m from the museum
Michael Maurello may face up to 20 years in prison for his financial misdeeds at the museum
Former museum aide sentenced for stealing Indigenous artefacts, including a grizzly bear necklace
Preston Jay Spotted Eagle has been sentenced to five years probation on charges of stealing government property from his former employer, the Museum of the Plains Indian on the Blackfoot reservation in Montana
Auctioneer admits he helped create fake Basquiats seized by FBI in museum raid
Michael Barzman, who formerly ran an auction company that bought and resold the contents of storage lockers, said in plea agreement that he and another man made and sold 20 to 30 fake Basquiats
FBI launches app to help identify stolen art
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has made its Nation Stolen Art File, most commonly used by law enforcement, available on mobile to the public
Report identifies art market as a target for organised crime
Internal crime agency urges vigilance, and greater efforts on monitoring and enforcement, but industry figures say study lacks focus and hard evidence of key vulnerabilities.
Man fingered in Philadelphia theft of thumb from terracotta warrior will plead guilty
A man whose drunken antics at a 2017 ugly sweater party at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia got him in hot water with the FBI, is expected to take a plea bargain in order to avoid jail time
Hong Kong heiress sues gallery over alleged £500,000 Banksy fraud
Karen Lo says the dealer Pearl Lam never followed through with her purchase of a well-known painting by the secretive British artist
Mysterious Jackson Pollock painting—with hidden message to Lauren Bacall—found in Bulgaria
The painting, which reportedly features a birthday message to the American actress on its back, was seized during a smuggling raid, officials say
More than 1,000 objects in the Met’s collection linked to alleged traffickers and looters, investigation finds
A new report claims New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art has many items in its collection with major provenance issues