Ex-Raider Edelman Fights Back over Giacometti Loan

NEW YORK (REUTERS).- Asher Edelman, whose corporate-raider past was mined for the movie character Gordon Gekko, is fighting back against a New York lender who said he defaulted on loans to buy artwork. Edelman, 70, accused an Emigrant Bank unit of “oppressive” conduct for trying to hold him in default on $3.1 million of loans, according to an affidavit filed on Wednesday in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan. The sum included $2 million to buy “Torse de Femme,” [...]

Furor over online Furey art

Hamilton, Ontario. – A Hamilton art promoter who launched an online gallery on the weekend has run into a powerful detractor — the widow of Conrad Furey, one of Hamilton’s most distinguished artists. The disagreement between Theresa Furey, who controls her husband’s estate after his death from cancer two years ago, and Movable Feast owner John Wilbur over a Furey painting illustrates how the Internet and Canadian copyright law are impacting the way artists and art consumers do business. A [...]

Art thief just released from prison is arrested again

Seattle, Washington. — A notorious Seattle art thief, barely out of prison for a series of brazen art thefts among some of the city’s most respected collectors, has been arrested in the sales of stolen artwork, including a Rembrandt etching taken in a Sammamish burglary. Kurt Lidtke, a former Seattle gallery owner, wept in court in 2007 while apologizing for thefts that had staggered the Northwest’s art community. He was ordered to pay more than $400,000 in restitution and sent [...]

Feds arrest Granite Falls couple in stolen art ring

Granite Falls, Minnesota. — Federal officials arrested a Granite Falls couple this morning they suspect of breaking into homes and stealing prized art work, including an etching by the Dutch master Rembrandt. The couple and a former art dealer from Seattle allegedly broke into the homes to steal the art and then tried to sell it, said Emily Langlie, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorneys Office in Seattle. One buyer was an undercover FBI agent, she said. Agents recovered numerous [...]

Swedish Artist Attacked During Free-Speech Lecture

STOCKHOLM (AP).- A Swedish artist who angered Muslims by depicting the Prophet Muhammad as a dog was assaulted Tuesday while giving a university lecture about the limits of artistic freedom. Lars Vilks told The Associated Press a man in the front row ran up to him and head-butted him during a lecture, breaking his glasses but leaving him uninjured. It wasn’t immediately clear what happened to the attacker. Vilks has faced numerous threats over his controversial drawing of Muhammad with [...]

Thieves Steal 11 Bronze Statues in Iran’s Capital

TEHRAN.- Religious motives appear to be behind the recent theft of 11 bronze statues of Iranian national heroes that have been stolen from the capital’s public parks, a local official said Wednesday. In a string of thefts that started in late March, unknown culprits have used heavy equipment to rip the statues from their pedestals and then carted them off. The thievery has prompted city officials to postpone erecting new statues in the capital. Tehran city council official Morteza Talaei [...]

Cleaners Paint Over Priceless Stencil of a Rat by Banksy

CANBERRA.- An Australian council is rueing a decision to send street cleaners into a Melbourne lane after they painted over a priceless stencil of a rat by the celebrated British graffiti artist Banksy. Melbourne Deputy Lord Mayor Susan Riley last week sent a clean-up team into Hosier Lane, renowned internationally for its colorful street art, to clean up garbage in the graffiti-lined passage after local residents complained. But the request went awry when the cleaners painted over a Banksy stencil [...]

California Dealer Reaches Plea Deal in Phony Picasso Case

LOS ANGELES (AP).- A West Hollywood art and antiques dealer who allegedly sold a fake Picasso for $2 million has agreed to plead guilty to federal fraud charges. In a plea agreement filed Tuesday in Los Angeles federal court, 70-year-old Tatiana Khan agreed to plead guilty to making false statements to the FBI and witness tampering. Khan is expected to enter her pleas next month. Prosecutors say Khan admitted she paid an artist $1,000 to duplicate a 1902 Picasso called [...]

Park West Gallery Successfully Defends Reputation in Defamation Trial

SOUTHFIELD, MI.- Park West Gallery is pleased with the recent verdict determining that Park West had not defamed Fine Art Registry, but is disappointed that the jury determined that FAR had not defamed Park West Gallery. FAR’s testimony was that their false and malicious statements were only their opinions and hyperbole, and they pled a defense based on the first amendment. Park West Gallery, on the other hand did not plead a first amendment defense but relied only on the [...]

Fine Art Registry Prevails Against Park West Gallery in Federal Court

DETROIT, MI.- A Federal Court jury decided completely in favor of Phoenix based Fine Art Registry® and three individual defendants in a defamation and business interference case brought by Southfield Michigan company, Park West Gallery, and also awarded $500,000 in damages to Fine Art Registry for Park West Gallery’s illegal use of the web based art registration company’s trademarks on the internet. The case (No. 2:08-CV-12274) finally ended after a marathon five and a half week trial in Federal Court [...]

Over 250 Pieces of the Leonardo Patterson Affair are a Sham

MEXICO CITY.- Within the framework of actions that the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE), the Attorney General’s Office of Mexico (PGR) and the Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) have coordinately adopted regarding the recovery of cultural property illegally taken from Mexican Territory, and particularly in the “Leonardo Patterson” affaire, from whom German authorities seized a collection of pieces, the following is informed: 1. After performing a detailed analysis by direct inspection in the city of Munich, [...]

Spielberg Protected by Goffman Cutler in Lawsuit Over Stolen Rockwell

NEWPORT, RI.- On Thursday, April 8, 2010 after three years of litigation concluding in a bench trial, a Nevada Federal Court Judge ruled in favor of Judy Goffman Cutler, owner of the American Illustrators Gallery in New York City and Co-Founder and Museum Director of the National Museum of American Illustration (NMAI) in Newport, RI, granting Ms. Cutler clear title to Norman Rockwell’s noted artwork ‘Russian Schoolroom’, a Look magazine illustration from 1967. Cutler was represented by Gene Brockland, Esq. [...]

Antiques Thief Extradited to U.S. to Face Charges

NEW YORK, NY.- An Israeli accused of knowingly selling antiques that had been stolen in high-profile heists in France to U.S. buyers was extradited to New York and appeared in Manhattan federal court. Shlomo Solly Sinai “possessed and sold, or attempted to sell, art and antiques previously stolen during three burglaries committed in Paris,” according to court documents. The three burglaries occurred within a 15-month period, starting in 1997 with the theft of 200 Japanese antique miniature sculptures, said Steven [...]

New York Suit vs. Google Seeks Damages for Pictures, Art

NEW YORK, NY.- Groups representing photographers and artists on Wednesday accused Internet search leader Google of copyright infringement in a lawsuit that mirrors complaints book publishers and authors have made for years about the company’s attempt to create the world’s largest digital library. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, seeks up to $150,000 in damages for each of tens of thousands of photographs, illustrations and graphic works that it said were copied, stored and electronically displayed without [...]

FBI Returns Paintings to Peru

WASHINGTON, DC.- Today the FBI returned to the government of Peru two Colonial paintings that were recovered by the FBI Art Crime Team. FBI Assistant Director Kevin Perkins, Criminal Investigative Division, presented the artifacts to Ambassador Luis Miguel Valdivieso at a ceremony at the Embassy of Peru in Washington, D.C. “We are pleased to be able to return these paintings to the government of Peru,” said Assistant Director Perkins. “Unfortunately, Peru suffers from depredations caused by thieves and looters and [...]