Shepard Fairey’s warrant in Detroit resulted in the artist’s arrest at the Los Angeles International Airport this past Monday, where he was held overnight on charges of vandalism.  The artist has since been released, and has not made a statement on the event. (more…)

A former employee of sculptor Dale Chihuly has been accused of stealing over $3 million in works from the artist’s Tacoma, Washington warehouse.  The accused assistant, Christopher Kaul, had been dealing with drug addiction, and began stealing works after leaving rehab.  “We’ve seen this story before — an employee is hooked on drugs and steals from his boss,” said Prosecutor Mark Lindquist. “The twist here is the boss is a world famous artist.” (more…)

The case surrounding the theft of works from Picasso descendent Catherine Hutin-Blay has taken a new turn, as Art Newspaper reports that more than 60 works could be missing from Hutin-Blay’s Gennevilliers storage facility.  “One thing is for sure,” her lawyer, Anne-Sophie Nardon says, “this case is extremely serious and much bigger that we first thought.” (more…)

Some of the paintings allegedly stolen from Picasso’s stepdaughter, Catherine Hutin-Blay, were found in the collection of Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev, who purchased them through art broker and adviser, Yves Bouvier (currently under investigation for fraud).  Bouvier’s lawyer denies any knowledge of the works’ stolen status.  “For all the paintings he acquired, he asked for a certificate from the Art Loss Register, demonstrating that it has not been registered as missing or stolen,” says Bouvier’s attorney, Luc Brossollet.   (more…)

French art dealer Olivier Thomas is under investigation after Catherine Hutin-Blay, the step-daughter of Pablo Picasso, filed charges accusing him of allegedly stealing artworks he was meant to be transporting and storing for her.   (more…)

Bloomberg reports on dealer Yves Bouvier, whose arrest earlier this year over alleged price inflation in the $186 million sale of a Mark Rothko reflects the warnings offered earlier this year by economist Ariel Roubini: “There are a number of serious distortions in the art market that suggest that there is some shady behavior going on.  Price opacity in the art market leads to insider information, which makes insider trading in art far more likely.” (more…)

James Meyer, the former assistant to Jasper Johns convicted of stealing and plotting to sell works from the artist’s studio, has been sentenced to over a year in prison.  “I am truly devastated that I destroyed the close relationship that I had with the man who was my mentor, employer and friend since I was 21-years-old,” Meyer said in court. (more…)

Random Darknet Shopper, a robot-based art project designed to randomly shop on Deep Web and black market websites, has been returned to the !Mediengruppe Bitnik collective after being confiscated in Janurary for purchasing MDMA during the piece’s performance.  Any potential prosecution over the work has also been withdrawn.  “The public prosecutor states that the possession of Ecstasy was indeed a reasonable means for the purpose of sparking public debate about questions related to the exhibition,” prosecuting attorneys state.  “The public prosecution also asserts that the overweighing interest in the questions raised by the art work Random Darknet Shopper justify the exhibition of the drugs as artifacts, even if the exhibition does hold a small risk of endangerment of third parties through the drugs exhibited” (more…)

Two paintings, including a classic Roy Lichtenstein held at the Sam Simon Foundation, an organization established by Simpsons co-founder.  The pair of works are valued at $400,000.   (more…)

The thieves behind the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum have been identified, according to a report by Breitbart.  The career criminals George Reissfelder and Lenny DiMuzio were named as the perpetrators by anonymous sources within the FBI, which had recently been reinvestigating the case.  Reissfelder had previously been represented by Senator John Kerry during his days of private defense practice for a murder conviction, which was overturned.  “I don’t know if those paintings ended up on eBay,” Kerry once joked, “but they’re not on my wall!” (more…)

As the fallout over Brazil’s scandal regarding oil giant Petrobas’s continues, the Oscar Niemeyer Museum in Curitiba is receiving 139 works from the collections of Petrobas heads and other involved parties, including pieces by Salvador Dali and Joan Miró.  The majority of work comes from the collection of Petrobras’ former director of services Renato Duque, who stands accused of siphoning off over $3.8 billion from Petrobras. (more…)

An article in The Atlantic this past week acknowledges the 25th anniversary of the notorious Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum theft in Boston, and examines the public fascination with art heists, examining this phenomenon against the difficulty in unloading stolen works of such cultural prestige.  “The true art isn’t the stealing, it’s the selling,” says Robert Wittman, founder of the FBI’s Art Crimes division. (more…)

Pierre Le Guennec, the electrician accused of stealing over 200 Picasso pieces from the artist years ago, has been handed a suspended two year sentence for his possession of the works, and has been ordered to return the works by a Parisian court.   (more…)

The New York Post details the intrigue and deception surrounding dealer Yves Bouvier’s arrest this past month in Monaco.  Bouvier recently sold an Amedeo Modigliani, Nude on a Blue Cushion, for hedge fund billionaire Steven A. Cohen to Dmitry Rybolovlev, allegedly charging the Russian $118 million when Cohen had only received $93.5 million from the sale, sparking an investigation that ultimately led to his arrest.   (more…)

Prominent German dealer Helge Achenbach has been sentenced to 6 years behind bars for his role in 20 counts of art fraud, allegedly overcharging clients on a number of sales.  The dealer also currently owes over €20 million to the Albrecht family in damages, but is unlikely to pay after his companies insolvency. (more…)

La Coiffeuse, a 1911 Pablo Picasso painting stolen from a Centre Pompidou storage room in 2001, has been recovered, after customs officials at the Port of Newark found it in a package marked with the words Merry Christmas.  “A lost treasure has been found,” said US Attorney Loretta Lynch.  “Because of the blatant smuggling in this case the painting is subject to forfeiture to the United States. Forfeiture of the painting will extract it from the grasp of the black market in stolen art so it can be returned to its rightful owner.” (more…)

A Swiss Businessman was arrested in Monaco this week, on charges of reportedly manipulating art prices and money laundering.  Yves Bouvier, the owner of several “freeports,” where art is often sold without duties, was detained this week, after authorities uncovered an alleged plot to defraud several clients, including Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev. (more…)

A pair of brothers have been arrested in Spain following the sale of a fake Goya painting.  The brothers’ attempts at selling the fraudulent painting was rewarded with more trickery by their customer, reportedly a sheikh who  paid them 1.7 million in fake, photocopied Swiss Francs (€1.5 million).  The brothers were arrested after the smuggled counterfeits were discovered in Avignon. (more…)

The trial for Pierre Le Guennec, a former handyman for Pablo Picasso, and his wife has begun.  The pair recently revealed an enormous trove of works by the artist they claim they were given in the 1970’s, and which state prosecutors claim they stole.  If convicted of theft, they could face up to five years in prison and a €375,000 fine. (more…)

A number of New York City art galleries and dealers have been subpoenaed in the past weeks by the Manhattan district attorney’s office, asking for a sales and shipping records for past sales.  Some speculate that the high prices paid at recent auctions have triggered a response by the DA to investigate possible fraud and tax evasion.  “I suspect they are looking at many. It is very rare they would go after a one-off unless it was someone who was very well known,” says tax specialist Ken Zemsky. (more…)

Leigh Morse, the former gallery director who was convicted of selling over 70 works from the estates of artists like Robert De Niro Sr. and never notifying the beneficiaries, is in the news this week, after failing to pay the $1.7 million in restitution ordered by the court. “Her restitution tab to date is over a million dollars. She has paid, to date, $22,000, in cash, 2.2 percent,” says Prosecutor Kenn Kern. “What’s so unbelievably upsetting and appalling is that every time you give very clear directions somehow we end up back here.” (more…)

A major ring of forgers focused on Old Masters works has been uncovered in Spain, with over 27 pieces priced to sell for over €1.2 million confiscated in the city of Castellón.  The works varied widely in quality, including a number of Goya etchings which were, in fact, photocopies of the artist’s work.   (more…)

The New York Times reports on the criminal case in Spain between the city of Barcelona and the daughters of wealthy industrialist Julio Muñoz Ramonet, who stand accused of stealing over 352 paintings and drawings, as well as tapestries and other works from the collector’s home when he donated them to the city.  “We’re talking about a quantity and a quality of missing works of art that could probably fill a first-class museum,” says Marc Molins, a criminal lawyer representing the city. (more…)

Nine works valued at $10 million, and stolen less than a decade ago have been recovered in Los Angeles, the LA Times reports.  The works, stolen from an Encino home in 2008, included Marc Chagall’s Les Paysans, and Diego Rivera’s Mexican Peasant.  Federal authorities arrested Raul Espinoza in connection with the theft.  (more…)