Amid a New York State Attorney’s investigation and the resignation of five board of trustee members at Cooper Union, the University’s embattled President Jamshed Bharucha has resigned.  Bharucha headed Cooper during its controversial decision to begin charging tuition, and has been the subject of numerous protest actions since.  He will take a position as visiting scholar at Harvard. (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…)

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 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…)

A new article by curator Sam Smiles in The Guardian this week studies the perceptions of late-life creativity in famous painters and artists, particularly in contrasts of value between the 19th and 20th century, and cites a number of critics who have noted most master artist’s work comes after their 50th year.  The article comes with concurrent run of three exhibitions exploring late work by Matisse, Turner and Rembrandt in London. (more…)

An ongoing art research project is working to identify air pollution in past centuries, using landscapes and other paintings for clues as to the era’s atmospheric makeup.  In one case, the eruption of the Tambora Volcano in Indonesia caused several years of bright red and oranges sunsets around the world, most notably documented in the paintings of J.M.W. Turner.  “From Turner you see that in this specific year he starts painting sunsets a little more reddish, compared to two or three years before,” says lead researcher Dr. Andreas Kazantzidis. (more…)

A recent investigation into the collection of Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum has uncovered 139 works looted during World War II.  The results of a 4-year study, the works have been placed on a website, inviting prior owners to make claims on the return of the work, including pieces by Matisse and Isaac Israels.  “We know that there were doubtful transactions concerning works acquired before 1940, after Kristallnacht,” said Siebe Weide of the Dutch Museum Association. (more…)

A 1975 drawing by Joan Miró has been discovered in the offices of a Spanish art handling company.  The work disappeared in 2010, following an exhibition at the Kursaal Arts Centre in San Sebastián, but was not noticed missing until 2011.  An investigation into the disappearance of the work is underway. (more…)

The New York Times profiles the tactics and approaches of the Art Loss Register, an independent investigation agency that specializes in locating and returning stolen or lost works of art around the world.  Accused of occasionally crossing ethical and legal lines, the agency has nevertheless maintained a reputation for its top-notch database and effectiveness. “When you’re doing a sting operation, for example,” Says company owner Julian Radcliffe, “you don’t say, ‘By the way, I’m lying to you.’ ” (more…)

Following the absolution of former Knoedler & Co president Ann Freedman in the ongoing criminal investigation over the sale of over 60 forged artworks, the former Knoedler head is suing dealer Marco Grassi for defamation.  Freedman, in her lawsuit, cites over 20 sources claiming she performed due diligence on the origins of the work, and that Grassi overstepped his grounds in recent comments to the New Yorker.  “A gallery person has an absolute responsibility to do due diligence, and I don’t think she did it. The story of the paintings is so totally kooky. I mean, really. It was a great story and she just said, ‘this is great.'”  Grassi said in the aforementioned interview.  (more…)

Russian Marat Guelman has been fired from his post as the director of the Perm Museum of Contemporary Art, and is currently under investigation for his financial practices.  The firing comes days after Guelman’s exhibition Welcome! Sochi 2014 (a protest against the upcoming winter olympics as a Kremlin publicity project) was raided by authorities.  “All of this looks like they received an order from Moscow. To find something at any cost,” he said. “And this is even though I’m not in any way part of the opposition, but simply a person who openly speaks what I think.” (more…)

In a drive to recover billions of dollars in assets pillaged by the Qaddafi family in Libya, the UK government and Interpol have confirmed that they will work to seize and return art to its rightful owners.  The family’s assets, frozen shortly after Muamar Qaddafii initiated a crackdown on protestors in 2011, are thought to total around $168 billion, including art collections used to hide ill-gotten funds.  “Art was probably bought through other organisations not affiliated with the regime or through investment groups,” says Libyan embassy spokesperson Ghazi Gheblawi. “It is something that should be investigated.” (more…)

Cell Phone records released in the money laundering and illegal gambling case against Helly Nahmad have put his family’s art dealing business in the public spotlight, particularly one conversation:  “Sometimes a bank needs a justification for a wire, right?” Mr. Nahmad said in a government account of a 2012 conversation. “We can just say, Oh, you are buying a painting. If they need justification, you know what I mean? You just be like, Oh yeah, I bought a, you know, Picasso drawing or something.” (more…)

New York Police raided the gallery of New York art dealer Helly Nahmad, son of billionaire art dealer David Nahmad, at 975 Madison Avenue, in connection with a major government crackdown on illicit online gambling and money laundering.  The raid is connected an alleged gambling ring, which reportedly hosted high-stakes poker events for major celebrities and athletes, itself, reportedly, an offshoot of a broader money-laundering operation.  Prosecutors are expected to comment on the investigation today. (more…)

Since 1990, the FBI has pursued the perpetrators of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum theft of over $500 million in art, including works by Rembrandt, Manet, Degas and Vermeer.  Twenty three years later, the bureau has announced that it knows who committed the thefts, but is witholding the information in hope of getting the works back.   The theft holds the disctinction of the largest property theft in U.S. history. (more…)