When Law Enforcement Cannot Solve It, Private Recovery Agency Tracks Stolen Art
Provided by HG.org
What happens when famous pieces of art are stolen and law enforcement leads run dry? Private recovery agencies are called upon to bring back these multimillion dollar masterpieces, often taking years to track the work, earning staggering fees, and blurring the line between legal and illegal activities.
The brainchild of Julian Radcliffe, an Oxford-educated former risk consultant who speaks of once spying for British intelligence, the Art Loss Register helps fill the void between the billions of dollars of art stolen every year and the limited resources and low priority of finding those works among law enforcement. Over the last 22 years, the Register has developed one of the most extensive databases of stolen art in the world, enabling it to recover more than $250 million worth of purloined masterpieces, earning fees from insurers and theft victims.
However, the company has been criticized for its tactics which critics say push ethical, and sometimes legal, boundaries. The Art Loss Register operates in the gray and black market of the art world, where many of the business with which it deals dabble in theft, fakery, and sketchy provenance. Among the incidents that have drawn criticism, the Register misled a client who wanted to check the provenance of a painting before he bought it, telling him it was not stolen even though it was, just so that he would buy it and unwittingly help the company collect a fee for its retrieval. Similarly, it has been known to pay middlemen and informers for leads on stolen works, a practice that troubles some in law enforcement, who say that it amounts to inciting theft. Most concerning to some, the company often operates like a bounty hunter, charging fees of as much as 20% of an artwork's value for its return. These fees do not bother the insurance companies and other clients that hire the Register to find a work, but it has also approached people and museums with whom it has no relationship after coming across one of their missing pieces and, in several cases, refused to share any information until the potential client agreed to pay a fee.
Unllike Pierce Brosnan's character in “The Thomas Crown Affair,” the world of art thefts is rarely so refined and interesting. Instead, it is usually much like any other form of burglary, where the “smash and grab” is often the preferred method of operation. Nevertheless, the value of the property these thieves steal can be staggering, and the law enforcement resources dedicated to recovering their loot is severely limited. According to the New York Times, New York City and Los Angeles, hubs of the art trade, each have only one detective dedicated to art crime, the FBI has assigned 14 agents with special training to investigate art crimes (though most have other duties as well), and Scotland Yard’s arts and antiques unit has just three officers. The databases of stolen works managed by these agencies are also inadequate. Scotland Yard lists approximately 57,500 stolen objects, Interpol about 40,000 works, and the FBI fewer than 8,000, partly because the bureau relies on local police to fill in the blanks. Each database lists items based on different protocols, and most police agencies do not communicate with one another.
The Register, by comparison, reports that its database includes more than 350,000 stolen, looted, or missing works. It also sports a staff of 10 in-house personnel, and an Indian company that searches and compares databases against items for sale at auction houses and art fairs. Theft victims pay to list their items with the Register, which also charges dealers, collectors, and insurers fees to search the database to see whether a work is clean. Police are allowed to search the database for free, and the company has helped train the FBI's Art Crime Team.
Of course, the Register has not made it so far without bending a few rules. In one case, a woman named Gisela Fischer, whose family’s Pissarro was looted from their Vienna home by the Gestapo in 1938, accused the Register of a bait-and-switch. It first offered, she said, to find the painting at no cost, citing a longstanding policy to work pro bono to recover art stolen by the Nazis. But, years later when the Register developed a lead on the painting, it demanded she sign a new contract agreeing to pay its fee.
All said, most law enforcement agencies agree that the Register is more beneficial than harmful, though they do take issue with some of its methods for making money. Of course, if you find yourself the victim of a theft, whether of art or other possessions, your first call should be to local law enforcement. If the item is later located, and law enforcement is unable or unwilling to retrieve it for you, then you may need to hire an attorney to assist you in enforcing your right to your own property. If, on the other hand, you have been accused of stealing something, you should also contact an attorney at once, as your very liberty may be at stake.
Copyright HG.org - Google+
Disclaimer: While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this publication, it is not intended to provide legal advice as individual situations will differ and should be discussed with an expert and/or lawyer. For specific technical or legal advice on the information provided and related topics, please contact the author.
However, the company has been criticized for its tactics which critics say push ethical, and sometimes legal, boundaries. The Art Loss Register operates in the gray and black market of the art world, where many of the business with which it deals dabble in theft, fakery, and sketchy provenance. Among the incidents that have drawn criticism, the Register misled a client who wanted to check the provenance of a painting before he bought it, telling him it was not stolen even though it was, just so that he would buy it and unwittingly help the company collect a fee for its retrieval. Similarly, it has been known to pay middlemen and informers for leads on stolen works, a practice that troubles some in law enforcement, who say that it amounts to inciting theft. Most concerning to some, the company often operates like a bounty hunter, charging fees of as much as 20% of an artwork's value for its return. These fees do not bother the insurance companies and other clients that hire the Register to find a work, but it has also approached people and museums with whom it has no relationship after coming across one of their missing pieces and, in several cases, refused to share any information until the potential client agreed to pay a fee.
Unllike Pierce Brosnan's character in “The Thomas Crown Affair,” the world of art thefts is rarely so refined and interesting. Instead, it is usually much like any other form of burglary, where the “smash and grab” is often the preferred method of operation. Nevertheless, the value of the property these thieves steal can be staggering, and the law enforcement resources dedicated to recovering their loot is severely limited. According to the New York Times, New York City and Los Angeles, hubs of the art trade, each have only one detective dedicated to art crime, the FBI has assigned 14 agents with special training to investigate art crimes (though most have other duties as well), and Scotland Yard’s arts and antiques unit has just three officers. The databases of stolen works managed by these agencies are also inadequate. Scotland Yard lists approximately 57,500 stolen objects, Interpol about 40,000 works, and the FBI fewer than 8,000, partly because the bureau relies on local police to fill in the blanks. Each database lists items based on different protocols, and most police agencies do not communicate with one another.
The Register, by comparison, reports that its database includes more than 350,000 stolen, looted, or missing works. It also sports a staff of 10 in-house personnel, and an Indian company that searches and compares databases against items for sale at auction houses and art fairs. Theft victims pay to list their items with the Register, which also charges dealers, collectors, and insurers fees to search the database to see whether a work is clean. Police are allowed to search the database for free, and the company has helped train the FBI's Art Crime Team.
Of course, the Register has not made it so far without bending a few rules. In one case, a woman named Gisela Fischer, whose family’s Pissarro was looted from their Vienna home by the Gestapo in 1938, accused the Register of a bait-and-switch. It first offered, she said, to find the painting at no cost, citing a longstanding policy to work pro bono to recover art stolen by the Nazis. But, years later when the Register developed a lead on the painting, it demanded she sign a new contract agreeing to pay its fee.
All said, most law enforcement agencies agree that the Register is more beneficial than harmful, though they do take issue with some of its methods for making money. Of course, if you find yourself the victim of a theft, whether of art or other possessions, your first call should be to local law enforcement. If the item is later located, and law enforcement is unable or unwilling to retrieve it for you, then you may need to hire an attorney to assist you in enforcing your right to your own property. If, on the other hand, you have been accused of stealing something, you should also contact an attorney at once, as your very liberty may be at stake.
Copyright HG.org - Google+
Disclaimer: While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this publication, it is not intended to provide legal advice as individual situations will differ and should be discussed with an expert and/or lawyer. For specific technical or legal advice on the information provided and related topics, please contact the author.
