Romania court adjourns Dutch art heist trial; Suspect offers to return paintings

Eugen Darie (R) and Radu Dogaru (R), two of the six suspects in the Dutch art heist trial, exit a local Court in Bucharest, Romania on August 13, 2013. A Bucharest court on Tuesday, August 13, 2013 adjourned the trial of six Romanians charged with a spectacular theft from the Rotterdam Kunsthall , including masterpieces by Monet, Picasso and Gauguin that are now feared to have been burned. AFP PHOTO DANIEL MIHAILESCU.

BUCHAREST (AFP).- A Bucharest court on Tuesday adjourned the trial of six Romanians charged with a spectacular theft from a Dutch museum, including masterpieces by Monet, Picasso and Gauguin that are now feared to have been burned. Immediately after opening proceedings, the court president postponed the trial to September 10 to allow more time for legal issues to be examined, including bail requests. It took less than three minutes for the thieves to take seven works by some of the world's most famous artists from the Kunsthal museum in Rotterdam in the pre-dawn heist last October. Among the paintings carried away in burlap sacks were Picasso's "Tete d'Arlequin" and Monet's "Waterloo Bridge".
Shortly before the hearing opened, a lawyer for the alleged mastermind said his client, who admits his guilt, had offered to return five of the works in return for being tried in the Netherlands instead of Romania. "Radu Dogaru tried to make a deal with the (Dutch) prosecutors," Catalin Dancu told reporters, adding that the punishments for robbery were lighter in the Netherlands. There was no mention of the other two missing paintings, and the lawyer said he could not confirm whether Dogaru was actually in possession of any of the masterpieces. Investigators are still trying to figure out what happened to the paintings. Dogaru's mother Olga earlier this year told prosecutors she had torched them in her stove in the sleepy village of Carcaliu in a bid to destroy evidence and protect her son, but she retracted that statement last month. An analysis by experts from Romania's National History Museum revealed that ashes retrieved from her stove included the remains of three oil paintings and nails from frames used before the end of the 19th century. The museum could not say whether these were from the paintings stolen in Rotterdam, although four of those were oil paintings.

Four of the suspects, including Dogaru, were in court for Tuesday's brief hearing. A fifth, who is not in detention, did not attend the session while a sixth accused is on the run and will be tried in absentia. As well as standing trial for aiding and abetting, Olga Dogaru faces a separate investigation into the possible destruction of the artworks. The total value of the haul, dubbed the "theft of the century" in the Netherlands, was 18 million euros ($24 million) according to prosecutors, while art experts at the time of the heist claimed the paintings were worth up to 100 million euros. "The theft was carried out according to a meticulous plan," prosecutors say in the indictment. Dogaru, 29, is already under investigation in Romania for murder and human trafficking. If found guilty of "theft with exceptionally serious consequences", he faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Dogaru and his alleged accomplices all come from the same region in eastern Romania but lived in the Netherlands, and were under suspicion for robbery while their girlfriends allegedly were sex workers.

With little knowledge of art but eager to steal valuable old pieces, the group settled on the Kunsthal by chance. After searching for museums on their GPS, the group initially found themselves at Rotterdam's Natural History Museum, but soon realised its exhibits could not be resold, according to the indictment. They then chanced upon a poster advertising an exhibition of 150 masterpieces from the private Triton Foundation at the Kunsthal. Despite their value, none of the paintings were equipped with alarms, Dutch authorities said. After smuggling the paintings into Romania by road, the group tried to sell them without success. A former model, Petre Condrat, accused of being an intermediary, is charged with concealment. A Romanian art expert on Monday said she alerted the authorities last November after being asked by a friend to appraise two canvases. In an interview with Romanian daily Adevarul and Dutch daily NRC Handelsblad, Mariana Dragu of Romania's National Art Museum said she was shocked to discover that the works -- Gauguin's "Femme Devant une Fenetre Ouverte, dite La Fiancee" and "La Liseuse en Blanc et Jaune" by Matisse -- were originals. Two months later, three of the suspects -- Dogaru, Eugen Darie and Mihai Alexandru Bitu -- were arrested in Romania. Two of them had been identified by Dutch police thanks to surveillance cameras. © 1994-2013 Agence France-Presse

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Experts investigating Rotterdam heist find remains of at least three oil paintings

An image showing a microscope picture of a canvas piece containig lead oxide is shown during a press conference is shown during a press conference at the National History Museum of Romania in Bucharest on August 8, 2013. Romanian experts sifting through ashes that could contain charred debris of masterpieces stolen from Rotterdam's Kunsthal museum have identified fragments typical of burnt oil paintings, the museum carrying out the analysis said Thursday. Six Romanians will stand trial in August for what has been called the "theft of the century". The works stolen include Picasso's "Tete d'Arlequin", Monet's "Waterloo Bridge" and Lucian Freud's "Woman with Eyes Closed". AFP PHOTO DANIEL MIHAILESCU.


BUCHAREST (AFP).- Experts investigating the theft of seven masterpieces said Thursday they had found the burned remains of at least three oil paintings at the Romanian home of the chief suspect's mother. Olga Dogaru admitted torching the stolen artworks, including two Monets and a Picasso, to destroy evidence against her son. Prosecutors say the seven paintings were worth 18 million euros ($24 million), although experts have put their collective value at over 100 million euros. She later retracted her statement, but Romanian art experts say they have discovered traces of three or four paintings in ashes taken from a wood-burning stove in her home. Ernest Oberlaender-Tarnoveanu, head of Romania's National History Museum which analysed the ashes, said he could not be sure the paintings were those swiped from Rotterdam's Kunsthal museum last October. "The number and the type of nails we found (in the ashes) indicate that we have at least three paintings there. There are also tacks that could belong to a fourth one," he told a press conference. "We found remains of burned oil paintings, but whether they are the ones that were stolen is a separate question, to be determined by prosecutors and judges." Olga Dogaru, her son Radu and four other Romanians go on trial on Tuesday in Bucharest over the audacious heist, which has been called the "theft of the century". It took the thieves just a pair of pliers and less than three minutes and to break into the museum and snatch the masterpieces, according to the indictment. Four of the stolen canvases were oil paintings, while the other three -- including Monet's "Waterloo Bridge" and Picasso's "Tête d'Arlequin" -- would be impossible to identify if burned as they were either pastel or coloured ink on paper, Oberlaender-Tarnoveanu said.
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Romanian art expert Mariana Dragu was key witness in Dutch art heist probe

'Waterloo Bridge, London' by Claude Monet.

BUCHAREST (AFP).- A Romanian art expert said Monday she helped police identify the suspects of a spectacular heist from a Dutch museum after she was asked to appraise two paintings in 2012. In an interview with Romanian daily Adevarul and Dutch daily NRC Handelsblad, Mariana Dragu of Romania's National Art Museum said she "felt she had to do something" when she realised that the paintings she had seen were stolen from the Kunsthal Museum in Rotterdam. A total of seven masterpieces including a Picasso, a Gauguin and two Monets were taken from the museum in October 2012. The works are feared lost after the mother of the main suspect told prosecutors she had torched them in a bid to destroy evidence. In November, Dragu was asked by a friend to appraise two paintings that he planned to buy if they were not fakes. She was met in a Bucharest flat by the art collector and two other men, one of whom proved to be among the suspects of the robbery. "I had heard about the theft but I had not seen any images so I did not realise at once that it could have been the stolen paintings," she said. After closely examining the two canvases -- "Femme Devant une Fenetre Ouverte, dite La Fiancee" by Paul Gauguin and "La Liseuse en Blanc et Jaune" by Henri Matisse -- she was shocked to discover that they were original. "I was told they came from England," she added, stressing that by then she had understood they were stolen. When asked about their value, Dragu told the men their "only chance to make some money was to hand them to the police, claiming they had found them in a garbage can". She was allowed to take only one picture -- the back of the Matisse, which carried several labels indicating that it had been exhibited in several international displays. Back home, Dragu went online and discovered the two canvases were among the seven masterpieces stolen from the Kunsthal. The next day she called the prosecutor's office. When the Dutch police were told the paintings were in Romania "they could not believe it," she said. "But the picture I had taken was the best evidence that it was true." "My only regret is that I was not clever and strong enough to say I know a potential buyer. I might have saved the paintings," she said. Two months later, three suspects, including one of the two men she had met, were arrested in Romania. Their trial begins Tuesday.
© 1994-2013 Agence France-Presse

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New York dealer Glafira Rosales who duped galleries indicted over massive art fraud

NEW YORK (AFP).- An art dealer who allegedly duped two top New York galleries into buying counterfeit paintings she presented as works by Modernist masters has been indicted for fraud, money laundering and tax evasion. Prosecutors said Glafira Rosales, 56, will be arraigned in a Manhattan court Friday on charges of selling more than 60 fake works of art between 1994 and 2009 for a total of $33.2 million. Rosales is also charged with concealing the proceeds of her sales by having much of the money sent to overseas bank accounts and filing false tax returns. She faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted of fraud and money laundering, the two most serious of the seven counts on which she has been indicted. "The indictment depicts a complete circle of fraud perpetrated by Glafira Rosales -- fake paintings sold on behalf of non-existent clients with money deposited into a hidden bank account," said Preet Bharara, the US attorney in charge of the case. According to prosecutors, Rosales managed to convince the galleries that some of the previously unknown works came from two clients -- one based in Switzerland and one based in Spain -- where she had set up bank accounts to receive the payments. Prosecutors say her Swiss client, presented as a wealthy individual who had inherited the art works, was a "a pure fiction" while the Spanish one was a real art collector but had never owned the paintings he was supposed to be selling or had any business relationship with Rosales. Rosales's most spectacular success came with the sale of a supposed Jackson Pollock painting known as "Untitled 1950" to the Knoedler & Company gallery, at the time the oldest gallery in New York. In 2007, Knoedler's then president Ann Freedman sold the work to London collector Pierre Lagrange for $17 million. Lagrange subsequently discovered that two paints used in the work were not invented until after Pollock had died and launched a law-suit against Knoedler & Freedman in May. Days after the suit was filed, Knoedler went out of business, after 165 years at the forefront of the New York art market. Lagrange's action was one of at least six lawsuits initiated by buyers who suspected they were sold fakes, and their doubts triggered an investigation by the FBI. Other works provided by Rosales were sold by Julian Weissman, another prominent art dealer who had represented the artist Robert Motherwell when he was alive. Rosales is alleged to have supplied at least seven fake works represented as paintings by Motherwell, as well as others presented as works by Mark Rothko and Willem de Kooning. Rosales, who denies the charges against her, has been in custody since she was arrested in May. Federal authorities have said she poses a flight risk because of her substantial funds overseas. © 1994-2013 Agence France-Presse

Untitled,1956 attributed to Mark Rothko.

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Romanian mum 'destroyed' stolen Picasso, Monet paintings valued at over $130 million

BUCHAREST (AFP).- The mother of a Romanian art heist suspect has admitted to torching seven stolen masterpieces, including works by Picasso and Monet, the Mediafax news agency reported Tuesday. The mother of suspect Radu Doragu said she incinerated the artworks, valued at over 100 million euros ($130 million), in her stove in a bid to "destroy any evidence". "After the arrest of my son in January 2013, I was very scared because I knew that what had happened was very serious," Mediafax reported Dogaru's mother as saying, citing court documents. "I placed the suitcase containing the paintings in the stove. I put in some logs, slippers and rubber shoes and waited until they had completely burned." The court documents appear to confirm earlier fears, after it was reported in May that investigators were combing through ashes found in her home. Six Romanians will stand trial in August for what has been called the "theft of the century". The seven masterpieces were swiped from Rotterdam's Kunsthal museum on October 16 in less than 90 seconds. The heist gripped The Netherlands and the art world as police struggled to solve the crime, putting 25 officers on the case. The works stolen include Picasso's "Tete d'Arlequin", Monet's "Waterloo Bridge" and Lucian Freud's "Woman with Eyes Closed".

Picture taken on October 16, 2012 shows an empty space left by a painting from French artist Henri Matisse that was stolen at the Kunsthal museum in Rotterdam. Romanian suspect charged over the spectacular theft of seven masterpieces including Paul Gauguin, Henri Matisse, Claude Monet and Pablo Picasso from the Dutch museum, will be trialed in Roumania but the paintngs have never been found. AFP PHOTO / ANP / ROBIN UTRECHT.

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John Constable painting in National Gallery vandalised in United Kingdom fathers' rights protest

LONDON (AFP).- John Constable's masterpiece "The Hay Wain" was attacked in Britain's National Gallery on Friday by a protester believed to be linked to the campaign group Fathers4Justice. A man was arrested at the prestigious gallery after gluing a 10-centimetre (four-inch) photograph of a young boy to the 1821 landscape. The National Gallery said no lasting damage had been done to the painting, which is one of Britain's best-known works of art.
Fathers4Justice released a statement from a man named as Paul Manning who said a custody battle with his former partner had forced him to take "drastic action". The British group, which campaigns for fathers' fair access to their children following separation from the mother, also released photographs of Manning holding an image of his son, with the word HELP scrawled on it. A second photo showed the image glued to the famous canvas. The attack came as a Fathers4Justice campaigner appeared in court accused of vandalising a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II in London's Westminster Abbey two weeks ago. Fathers4Justice had called for dads to take "independent weekly direct action", saying it was abandoning a five-year "attempted engagement with the political establishment". London's Metropolitan Police said a 57-year-old man was in police custody after being arrested shortly after 1 pm (1200 GMT).
A spokeswoman for the National Gallery said the painting was already back on display. "Conservation staff were on the scene very rapidly and the painting was removed for treatment," she said. "No damage to Constable's original paint occurred and there is no lasting damage to the painting." Set up in 2001, Fathers4Justice have gained a reputation over the years for headline-grabbing stunts. Their activists have scaled buildings such as Buckingham Palace dressed as superheroes, and in 2004 they sparked a major security alert at the British parliament when they pelted then-prime minister Tony Blair with flour as he was speaking. A spokeswoman for Fathers4Justice said the group was now encouraging fathers to write "help" or place pictures of their children in "significant places where they are visible to the world". "We can no longer stem the tide of desperation and anger of fathers who have had their families destroyed and their hopes betrayed by a government that promised equal parenting but only delivered desperation," she said.

Fathers4Justice released a statement from a man named as Paul Manning who said a custody battle with his former partner had forced him to take "drastic action". Photo: Fathers4Justice.

© 1994-2013 Agence France-Presse
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Investigators analyse ashes taken from the house of one of the suspects as Dutch heist paintings feared burnt!

BUCHAREST (AFP).- Investigators are analysing ashes found in the house of a Romanian suspect charged for the spectacular Dutch museum heist, judicial sources said Wednesday, raising fears that the seven stolen masterpieces may have been burnt. "Tests are underway, they will take some time," Gabriela Neagu, a spokeswoman for the Romanian prosecutor's office, told AFP. "The ash tests are a stage in the ongoing probe, investigators have to take every hypothesis into account", she added. Investigators fear that the suspects may have set fire to their haul after realising that they could not sell the paintings, which included works by Pablo Picasso, Claude Monet and Henri Matisse. The ashes were taken from the house of Olga Dogaru, mother of one of the suspects and herself charged with "complicity to theft." Her son's lawyer, Doina Lupu, told AFP the tests "were inconclusive" so far. Dogaru was arrested in March after her house in eastern Romania was thoroughly searched. An empty suitcase which had presumably served to store the stolen paintings was unearthed during the operation. Seven Romanians, including Dogaru, have been charged in connection with the theft of the paintings from Rotterdam's Kunsthal museum on October 16. Experts have estimated their value at more than 100 million euros ($130 million). The heist gripped the Netherlands and the art world as police struggled to solve the crime, despite putting 25 officers on the case. The works stolen include Picasso's "Tete d'Arlequin"(pictured above), Monet's "Waterloo Bridge" and Lucian Freud's "Woman with Eyes Closed".

© 1994-2013 Agence France-Presse
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