Art crime
Moscow-based architect, who built ‘Putin’s Palace’, refuses to return to Italy to face trial
Italian Lanfranco Cirillo—whose 150-strong art collection was seized last year—will be tried in absentia by an Italian court next month for tax and money laundering crimes
More than $400,000 of art stolen from a padlocked truck in Boulder, Colorado
Police are investigating the theft of five paintings from a vehicle in a hotel car park
Italian police widen fraud investigation after seizing Rubens painting from Genoa exhibition
The Carabinieri accuse four people of downgrading and illegally exporting the Old Master work, which has now been returned to the show in the Palazzo Ducale
Collector cracks art heist cold case with a pillowcase and reverse Google image search
Decades after it was stolen from the Worcester Art Museum, collector Clifford Schorer spotted a missing Dutch Golden Age painting printed on a throw pillow
Following his arrest in Italy, Old Master forgery suspect Giuliano Ruffini is turned over to French authorities
After seven years of investigations, Ruffini has been handed over to French authorities, likely setting the stage for a trial in Paris
Police recover bulk of objects stolen in audacious £100m art heist from Dresden museum
Announcement was made during the trial of six men which began in January and is due to resume this week
Paris gallerists—found guilty of selling Picasso works stolen by handyman—receive suspended jail sentences
Belle et Belle gallery has now been dissolved, closing the chapter on a decade-long criminal investigation
Suspected Old Master forger Giuliano Ruffini is arrested in Italy after turning himself in
The 77-year-old, wanted by French police for "fraud, money laundering and forgery of works of art", was released after ten days in custody
Suspected Old Master forger Giuliano Ruffini—wanted by French police—cannot be found
The French dealer, who is under investigation for selling a series of allegedly forged paintings, has had a warrant out for his arrest since 2019
Alleged Native American scalp seized from auction house specialised in Confederate and Nazi memorabilia
Authorities received an anonymous tip regarding an object listed for sale on the auction house’s website and described as a Mescalero Apache scalp
Manhattan district attorney returns 187 artefacts tied to disgraced dealer Subhash Kapoor to Pakistan
The objects associated with Kapoor, along with another five pieces returned to Pakistan, were cumulatively valued at $3.4m
Stolen statue linked to antiquities trafficker Doris Wiener repatriated to Cambodia
The sandstone vishnu statue was stolen from a seventh-century temple and smuggled to Manhattan in 1995, when it was sold to a private collector
Disgraced antiquities dealer Subhash Kapoor sentenced to ten years in prison by Indian court
The ruling culminates an extensive investigation into a smuggling ring headed by Kapoor
A handyman stole hundreds of Picassos from two heiresses—now the Paris gallery that bought them is on trial
Verdict for the owners of Belle et Belle is expected in November
Charm, pedigree, contacts: how to dupe the art market
Court documents from the ongoing Inigo Philbrick fraud saga reveal that the secretive art market and the sheer attractiveness of its lifestyle will always suck the punters in
Mexican government investigating collector who claims he burned a Frida Kahlo drawing for an NFT charity project
Collector Martin Mobarak purportedly set a 1944 Kahlo drawing on fire in a martini glass while a mariachi band burst into song during a ceremony at his Miami mansion
British art dealer Robert Newland pleads guilty to conspiring with Inigo Philbrick to defraud collectors and financiers
Newland was arrested in the UK in February and extradited to the United States in September, where he admitted his role in the $86m scheme for which Inigo Philbrick was sentenced to seven years in prison
A 2,000-year-old Israeli coin minted during the ‘great Jewish revolt’ repatriated by US authorities
The coin, a Quarter Shekel valued at $1m, was looted in from Israel in 2002 and had been headed for auction before being recovered by US Homeland Security agents in 2017
Wanted in the US, Lebanese antiquities collector maintains his innocence, says his ‘big mistake’ was trusting New York art crime official
Lotfi addresses allegations that led to a warrant being issued for his arrest in a statement and interview, giving new details on the extraordinary story of the Metropolitan Museum's gold sarcophagus
French art dealer Didier Wormser stands trial for trafficking looted Egyptian antiquities
Owner of L’Etoile d’Ishtar gallery said artefacts from Saqqara necropolis “should be restituted to Egypt” but insists he purchased them in good faith
US customs agents seize Ancient Egyptian lid for mummy liver
The artefact, seized in Memphis, Tennessee, was en route to a collector who is believed to have falsified statements regarding its value
Exclusive: German museums latest to be implicated in far-reaching criminal investigation into antiquities trafficking
Case has so far seen Middle Eastern works seized from New York's Met and the indictment of a former Louvre director
Winston Churchill portrait stolen from Canadian hotel and replaced with copy
Staff at the Chateau Laurier in Ottawa noticed that the frame of the 1941 photograph did not match others in its reading room
Australian art dealer goes on the run after allegedly ripping off emerging artists
The art dealer Tristian Koenig is accused of selling works by emerging artists and making off with the profits
Police find haul of stolen paintings, including masterworks by Tarsila do Amaral, under a bed in Rio de Janeiro
The works, including pieces by Do Amaral, Di Cavalcanti and others, were seized from the home of a man involved a bizarre scheme to swindle the widow of a famed dealer
Arrest warrant issued for dealer who sold ‘hundreds’ of looted Middle East antiquities—some of which ended up in the Met
Georges Lotfi has been accused of handling the types of materials he helped the police recover and repatriate for years
Italian Police seize assets worth $144m—including works of art—from ‘Putin’s Palace’ architect
Lanfranco Cirillo, who is currently in Moscow, is under investigation for tax crimes
Italian police stop sale of 'exceptional' Artemisia Gentileschi painting that may have been illegally shipped to Vienna
If judges rule that the owners of the work broke the law, the painting will be definitively confiscated by the state and could be donated to a museum
NFT twist is latest development in saga of contested ‘Leonardo’ painting hidden in a Swiss vault
A painting of a princess possibly by the Old Master has been sold digitally—but questions remain over its provenance, the inherent value of non-fungible tokens and who owns what
Jailing of British visitor to Iraq could jeopardise tourism and soft diplomacy
After years of conflict and sanctions, heritage trips have been taking off in the area. But potential visitors may be wary after geologist Jim Fitton was given a 15-year sentence for taking “a few worthless pieces of broken pottery”