Gotcha: Civil War Battle Flag Recovered

Mollie Halpern: A historic flag used in the American Civil War is back on display at a New Orleans museum more than a decade after it was stolen.

Adam Pierce: The history behind it and learning about it is amazing. The flag was actually carried during numerous major battles, and it was actually captured at Gettysburg.

Halpern: I’m Mollie Halpern of the FBI, and this is Gotcha, the Bureau’s closed case of the week. Information about the whereabouts of the $250,000 14th Louisiana Infantry Regiment Confederate Battle Flag was provided to the FBI’s Art Crime Team in Miami. Just several hours later, special agents tracked down a Virginia man who unknowingly bought the flag from a former museum volunteer who had stolen it. Special Agent Adam Pierce…

Pierce: Then we went in, looked at the flag, matched it up with some photos we had, and then we collected the item.

Halpern: The FBI’s National Art Crime Team has recovered more than 2,600 items valued at more than $142 million since its beginning in 2005. For more information, visit FBI.gov.

ICE returns stolen Warhol print to rightful owner

It's 2007. An American gentleman is traveling in Buenos Aires, browsing the city's antique district for treasures. A Rolling Stones fan, he stumbles upon a unique piece of artwork depicting celebrity rock artist Mick Jagger, which he purchases for $2,000 to display in his Phoenix, Ariz., home. Unbeknownst to him, the silkscreen print is an original Andy Warhol. Created in 1975, it is numbered 66 of 250 pieces and boasts the signatures of both Jagger and Warhol. It was stolen from an art collector's residence in Argentina in 2005.

In 2008, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents in Phoenix began working with INTERPOL, the world's largest international police organization, to locate the artwork. Their search led them to the home of the gentleman who visited Buenos Aires just a year earlier. With his cooperation, the ICE attaché office in Argentina returned the print to its rightful owner in March 2011.

ICE HSI plays a leading role in investigating crimes involving the illicit importation and distribution of cultural property. ICE HSI uses its investigative authority to seize cultural property items if they were illegally imported into the United States. It also investigates the illegal trafficking of artwork, especially works that have been reported lost or stolen. ICE's Office of International Affairs, through its 67 attaché offices worldwide, works closely with foreign governments to conduct joint investigations whenever possible.

More than 2,300 artifacts have been returned to 18 countries since 2007; including paintings from France, Germany and Austria, an 18th century manuscript from Italy, and a bookmark belonging to Hitler as well as cultural artifacts from Iraq including Babylonian, Sumerian, and neo-Assyrian items.

ICE returns to French government stolen Degas painting missing for 38 years

Homeland Security Investigations seizes iconic work before auction

WASHINGTON – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director John Morton presented a painting by Edgar Degas, "Blanchisseuses Souffrant Des Dents," to the acting French Ambassador to the United States, François Rivasseau. The painting, completed between 1870 to 1872, depicts two views of a laundress with a toothache.

In 1961, the painting was loaned to the Musée Malraux in Le Havre in Normandy, France, but was stolen from the museum in December 1973. In October 2010, the Degas painting appeared in the Sotheby's New York catalogue for a pending auction of Impressionist and modern art.

INTERPOL notified ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agent in charge in New York who initiated the investigation. HSI special agents tracked the provenance of the piece and authenticated many markings on the back of the painting, including inventory marks by the Louvre, which confirmed the painting offered for sale was the stolen work.

“On behalf of ICE, it is a great privilege to return this painting that rightfully belongs to the people of France, and reflects a part of your nation’s history and rich heritage,” said ICE Director Morton. “ICE’s Cultural Property, Art and Antiquities unit was established to identify, investigate and return cultural treasures such as this stolen work of art, to their rightful owners and countries of origin.”

The acting French Ambassador, Mr. Rivasseau underlined that “at a time when even organized crime is becoming “globalized,” it’s essential that international cooperation between law enforcement agencies be as close as possible, and be supported by organizations such as INTERPOL. There is close cooperation between the specialist services of ICE and their counterparts from French Customs; this cooperation is based on the sharing of information and responsiveness.”

Mr. Rivasseau warmly added: “What we are celebrating today is a gesture of friendship by the United States towards the French Republic. And for that, I would like to thank John Morton and all of the agents involved in this great accomplishment and of course through them, I would also like to extend my heartfelt thanks to the government of the United States.”

“I applaud the tremendous investigative efforts by ICE HSI special agents in New York, INTERPOL France and INTERPOL Washington, as well as Assistant U.S. Attorney Duncan Levin for working together to recover and return the Degas Masterpiece that was stolen in 1973. The return of this piece of artwork is another excellent example of what can be accomplished when law enforcement authorities in the U.S. and abroad partner to identify and recover historic, stolen works of art,” stated INTERPOL Washington Director Timothy A. Williams.

As the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security, ICE plays a leading role in investigating crimes involving the illicit importation and distribution of cultural property.

ICE uses its investigative authority to seize cultural property items if they were illegally imported into the United States. It also investigates the illegal trafficking of artwork, especially works that have been reported lost or stolen. ICE’s Office of International Affairs, through its 67 attaché offices worldwide, works closely with foreign governments to conduct joint investigations, when possible.

Working with experts in the fields of art and archeology, ICE authenticates the items, determines their true ownership and returns them to their countries of origin. Those involved in the illicit trafficking of cultural property, art and antiquities can face prison terms of up to 20 years, fines and possible restitution to purchasers of the items.

Stolen Art Case

Appeals Court Upholds Lawyer’s Conviction in Stolen Art Case Two Paintings Stolen in 1978 to be Returned


April 15, 2010 - BOSTON, MA—Late yesterday, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed the conviction and prison sentence of a one time Massachusetts state prosecutor. The case arose from the 1978 theft of seven paintings from Stockbridge, Mass. – the largest burglary from a private residence in Massachusetts history and one of the largest art thefts in the U.S.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz and Warren T. Bamford, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division, announced that the Court of Appeals affirmed in all respects, the conviction and seven year prison sentence of ROBERT M. MARDIROSIAN, 74, of Falmouth, Mass. on charges that he possessed stolen property that had crossed a U.S. boundary knowing it to be stolen.

The case began on Memorial Day weekend in 1978 with the burglary of seven pieces of valuable artwork from a Stockbridge home, including the Cezanne painting, Bouilloire et Fruits. The alleged thief, David Colvin, left them with MARDIROSIAN, a Massachusetts defense attorney and former assistant district attorney in Middlesex County. MARDIROSIAN had represented Colvin in another case in federal court in Boston. Four months later, Colvin was murdered.

MARDIROSIAN stored the paintings in Watertown, Mass. until 1988, when he moved them out of the country, ultimately placing them in the vault of a Swiss bank. In 1999, he attempted to sell the paintings through an intermediary in London, inadvertently alerting the London-based Art Loss Register (ALR), an organization that assists in the recovery of stolen art and antiquities. On behalf of the original owner, the ALR reached out to the intermediary in an effort to recover the paintings. In response, the intermediary, on MARDIROSIAN’s behalf, demanded a $15 million ransom for their return.After months of negotiations, in October 1999, the ALR brokered an “agreement” between the owner and a Panamanian corporation that MARDIROSIAN had set up as a front to conceal his identity, whereby the corporation was to hand over the most valuable painting, the Cezanne, in exchange for the owner’s relinquishing all claims to the remaining six paintings. At the time, the paintings were valued at approximately $1 million. The agreement was signed in Geneva, Switzerland, where the Cezanne was delivered by an unidentified driver who pulled up in a car where MARDIROSIAN’s lawyer was standing, handed him a wrapped package containing the Cezanne, and promptly sped off. Two months later, the owner auctioned the Cezanne through Sotheby’s in London for $29.3 million.

MARDIROSIAN held onto the remaining paintings until 2003, when he tried to sell them through other intermediaries. MARDIROSIAN arranged to have the paintings brought to a Swiss bank for valuation and authentication by Sotheby’s. In 2005, MARDIROSIAN arranged for four of the six paintings to be sent to Sotheby’s for transport from Geneva to Sotheby’s in London - after which the owner filed a lawsuit seeking to void the 1999 “agreement” with the Panamanian Corporation.

The four paintings, Portrait d’une Jeune Fille and Portrait d’un Jeune Homme by Chaim Soutine, Maison Rouge by Maurice Utrillo, and Flowers by Maurice de Vlaminck were eventually returned to the rightful owner. The remaining two stolen paintings, Woman Seated and Boy by Jean Jansen were recovered by the FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office. With the completion of the appeal, the Government will return the last two paintings to the owner – some 32 years after they were stolen.

On appeal, the Court rejected MARDIROSIAN’s argument that the 1999 Geneva agreement transferred valid title to the six remaining paintings to MARDIROSIAN. The Court held that the contract was void because its purpose was illegal; it required the owner to pay what in effect was a ransom for the return of his own property.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with assistance from the Art Loss Registry and its President, Julian Radcliffe. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jonathan F. Mitchell and Ryan M. DiSantis of Ortiz’s Economic Crimes Unit, with the assistance of Trial Attorney Collette Ford of the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs.