The New York Post reports on a recent suit filed against former Andy Warhol bodyguard Agusto Bugarin, accusing him of stealing of painting from the artist, and hiding it away for 30 years before trying to sell it in the past year.  “There is no indication that Warhol did or would have given his bodyguard a painting valued at the time in the hundreds of thousands of dollars — several multiples of Bugarin’s annual salary,” the Manhattan Supreme Court filing by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts says. (more…)

Al-Jazeera continues the investigation into the Philippine government’s attempts at reclaiming the trove of works previously owned by the Marcos family, some of which they believe have since been stolen from the family’s homes and are now in private collections.  “We’d like to think that these paintings have been with the Marcoses from the beginning, and we believe that they were purchased using ill-gotten wealth and public funds,” Presidential Commission on Good Government leader Andres Bautista says. (more…)

The French Court of Appeal has demanded a â‚¬20 million bail from Guy Wildenstein, over the art dealer’s alleged concealment of over 30 works from his family’s non-profit, reported as “stolen” or “missing” by their original owners. (more…)

A painting by Edward Degas, valued at around $7.6 million, has been stolen from the home of an elderly Greek Cypriot.   Ballerina Adjusting Her Slipper was stolen Monday in Limassol on the island of Cyprus, and police have already arrested one man in connection with the case. (more…)

James Meyer, a former studio assistant to Jasper Johns, has plead to selling a series of the unfinished works by the artist, and fraudulently covering his sales with false inventory.  Meyer ultimately made over $3 million off the sales.  “Meyer will now have to pay for that decision,” says US Attorney Preet Bharara. (more…)

A painting by Baroque artist Guercino has been stolen from the Church of San Vincenzo in the northern town of Modena, Italy this week.  The work, depicting the Madonna with St. John the Evangelist, is valued at over $8 million, and was stolen in the middle of the night when the alarm system failed to function properly.  “This precious painting is part of the cultural heritage of Modena,” says Modena’s mayor Gian Carlo Muzzarelli. (more…)

Artist Ryan McGinness’s public street sign commission for New York City has seen widespread enthusiasm in the past few days since its initial installation, with most of the first set of signs disappearing within hours.  “When I caught one of the first few disappearing, I was mildly amused,” McGinness says. But when he realized the majority had gone missing, “It felt a little more aggressive. It made me just plain angry.” (more…)

An Henri Matisse painting stolen 10 years ago from a Venezuelan museum has been returned to its home in Caracas.  Odalisque in Red Trousers was recovered in Miami Beach in 2012 after a couple tried to sell it to undercover FBI agents for $740,000. (more…)

As art theft market experts gather at a three day symposium at New York University from June 4-6 to discuss the 3rd largest crime enterprise in the world, Bloomberg Television notes the current $6 billion value of the art theft market, in relation to the $200 billion global art market. Cases of art thefts costing hundreds of millions of dollars date back to 1990, with daring attempts dotting the history books. “I’ve heard stories of a helicopter coming and zooming down and taking statues out of a garden,” Steel reports.

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An intrepid thief made off with a piece of a Danh Vo sculpture Thursday, stealing the work from City Hall Park in New York while the work was being installed.  “We can confirm that a small part of the artwork disappeared from the park during installation, and a police investigation is underway,” a representative from the Public Art Fund noted. (more…)

A pair of paintings by Gaugin and Bonnard, stolen from a London collector in 1970, have resurfaced in the home of an Italian autoworker, the Guardian reports.  The pieces were purchased at auction in 1975 for a sum of 45,000 lira (€39 or £32, equal to £300 today), and sat in the kitchen of his home for many years, before the owner’s son noticed a similarity between the works and other Impressionist masterpieces.  “The worker, it seems clear, didn’t know what they were,” says Mariano Mossa, commander of the Italian heritage police. (more…)

Sentencing for the convicted Knoedler Gallery defrauder Glafira Rosales has been postponed until September, following the March 14th filing of a secret court document with Manhattan federal court.  Analysts speculate that Rosales, who has already agreed to forfeit $33.2 million, which includes her Sands Point home and $81m in restitution, is negotiating with federal officials in building a larger criminal case for her co-conspirators. (more…)

A Rembrandt stolen over 15 years ago from a French museum has been recovered, the Art Newspaper reports.  L’enfant à la bulle de savon was stolen from the Musée d’art et d’histoire in Draguignan in 1999, during the Bastille Day parade.  The work is believed to be valued at â‚¬4m today. (more…)

The investigation into a stolen Gustav Klimt painting nearly 17 years ago has been reopened, with authorities using sophisticated DNA testing technology to try and find a match with evidence found on the work’s frame.  Portrait of a Woman was stolen in 1997 from the Ricci-Oddi Gallery in Piacenza, with police unable to find any prior evidence able to track down a suspect.   (more…)

A Virginia court has ruled that a Renoir purchased at a flea market for $7 must be returned to the museum it was stolen from in 1951.  Paysadge Bords de Seine, stolen from Baltimore Museum of Art, was discovered by teacher Marcia “Martha” Fuqua, and was valued at $22,000.  “The museum has put forth an extensive amount of documentary evidence that the painting was stolen,” Brinkema said, citing a 1951 police report and museum records. (more…)

Sophie Calle, Le Major Davel (1994), via Galerie Perrotin

For her newest exhibition at Galerie Perrotin, Sophie Calle returns to themes of absence and presence, memory and “the real” through the exploration of three situations in which iconic artworks were stolen or destroyed, and the subtle emotional and structural fallout caused by the disappearance of iconic works by Rembrandt, Degas, and others.

Sophie Calle, Dérobés (Installation View), via Sophie Kitching for Art Observed (more…)

A Long Island art thief, who was captured in a sting operation filmed for reality show Brooklyn DA, says that the reality show has evidence that would clear his name.  After his arrest for stealing a number of works, including a Picasso etching, Vega’s car was searched, where he claims evidence exonerating him was located, but the footage of the search is being withheld by CBS.  “Up until his arrest, Vega didn’t believe that there was anything wrong or illegal with this arrangement,” his lawyer Timothy Parlatore said. (more…)

A recent article by the Telegraph examines the theft of iconic artworks, and their fate on the black market.  Often, journalist Alaistair Sooke notes, the works have a black market value of about 3% to 10% of their real market value, and are often used as collateral in dangerous illegal activities like drug trading and/or gun-running. (more…)

Two of Damien Hirst’s Dot artworks have been stolen from a West London art gallery, valued at about $54,000.  Police believe that a single person stole the two prints from the Exhibitionist Gallery, where gallery manager, Nathan Engelbrecht, told the BBC that he was scouring around “trying to find new artwork for the Christmas season.’’  (more…)

The thieves behind last year’s audacious heist of works from the Kunsthal Rotterdam have been sentenced to six years in prison for their thefts, which included works by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Claude Monet and Paul Gauguin, and which held a total value of over $24 million.  The 2012 theft has yet to see the paintings recovered, and officials say that some of the works have been destroyed. (more…)

A New York man is claiming that a Basquiat drawing sold recently at auction was stolen from him in 2000.  Francesco Pellizzi is claiming that he had not seen the work since it was stolen from a drawer in his apartment, until this year, when he saw the work in a Christie’s auction.  The work was sold by dealer Jennifer Vorbach and lawyer David Ruttenberg, who had purchased the work after researching the work’s history.  “It changed hands a number of times, but Vorbach and Ruttenberg are not able to trace it back to anyone who obtained it from Mr. Pellizzi,” Lawyer Peter Stern said. (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…)

A $2 million painting by Arshile Gorky has been ruled to be the property of tennis legend John McEnroe, and must be returned, a New York Judge has decided.  McEnroe purchased the piece Pirate II in 2004 with gallery owner Lawrence Salander, who is currently serving a six year sentence for grand larceny, and sued for the recovery of the works from dealerJoseph Carroll after they were sold without McEnroe’s knowledge.  “Carroll acquired Pirate II in a grossly undervalued transaction in which he chose to make no inquiry as to Salander’s authority to sell the work,” Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Shirley Kornreich wrote in her decision.

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James Meyer, an assistant to Jasper Johns, who worked for the artist for over 27 years, was arrested on Wednesday, accused of stealing at least 22 unfinished works from his employer, and selling them through an unnamed New York gallery for over $6 million. Meyers was arraigned in a Hartford courtroom, and pleaded not guilty to the charges.  He was released on an unsecured $250,000 bond.  “Jasper has taught me to think about what I’m making before I make it.” Meyer once said of his employer and mentor. (more…)