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United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz
District of Massachusetts
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: CHRISTINA DiIORIO-STERLINGApril
15, 2010 PHONE: (617)748-3356WWW.USDOJ.GOV/USAO/MA E-MAIL:
[email protected]
APPEALS COURT UPHOLDS LAWYERS CONVICTION IN STOLEN ART CASE
Two Paintings Stolen in 1978 to be Returned
BOSTON, Mass. - Late yesterday, the United States Court of
Appeals for the FirstCircuit 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 theU.S.
United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz and Warren T. Bamford,
Special Agent inCharge 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 ROBERTM. MARDIROSIAN, 74, of Falmouth,
Mass. on charges that he possessed stolen property thathad 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 ofvaluable artwork from a Stockbridge home,
including the Cezanne painting,Bouilloire et Fruits.
The alleged thief, David Colvin, left them with MARDIROSIAN, a
Massachusetts defenseattorney and former assistant district
attorney in Middlesex County. MARDIROSIAN hadrepresented Colvin in
another case in federal court in Boston. Four months later, Colvin
wasmurdered.
MARDIROSIAN stored the paintings in Watertown, Mass. until 1988,
when he movedthem out of the country, ultimately placing them in
the vault of a Swiss bank. In 1999, heattempted to sell the
paintings through an intermediary in London, inadvertently alerting
theLondon-based Art Loss Register (ALR), an organization that
assists in the recovery of stolen artand 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 MARDIROSIANs behalf,
demanded a $15 million ransom for their return.
After months of negotiations, in October1999, the ALR brokered
an agreementbetween the owner and a Panamanian corporation that
MARDIROSIAN had set up as a front toconceal his identity, whereby
the corporation was to hand over the most valuable painting,
theCezanne, in exchange for the owners relinquishing all claims to
the remaining six paintings. Atthe time, the paintings were valued
at approximately $1 million. The agreement was signed in
8/9/2019 Former Watertown lawyer's appeal rejected in Cezanne
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Geneva, Switzerland, where the Cezanne was delivered by an
unidentified driver who pulled upin a car where MARDIROSIANs lawyer
was standing, handed him a wrapped packagecontaining the Cezanne,
and promptly sped off. Two months later, the owner auctioned
theCezanne through Sothebys in London for $29.3 million.
MARDIROSIAN held onto the remaining paintings until 2003, when
he tried to sellthem through other intermediaries. MARDIROSIAN
arranged to have the paintings brought toa Swiss bank for valuation
and authentication by Sothebys. In 2005, MARDIROSIANarranged for
four of the six paintings to be sent to Sothebys for transport from
Geneva toSothebys in London - after which the owner filed a lawsuit
seeking to void the 1999agreement with the Panamanian
Corporation.
The four paintings, Portrait dune Jeune Fille and Portrait dun
Jeune Homme by ChaimSoutine,Maison Rouge by Maurice Utrillo, and
Flowers by Maurice de Vlaminck wereeventually returned to the
rightful owner. The remaining two stolen paintings, Woman
SeatedandBoy by Jean Jansen were recovered by the FBI and U.S.
Attorneys Office. With the
completion of the appeal, the Government will return the last
two paintings to the owner some32 years after they were stolen.
On appeal, the Court rejected MARDIROSIANs argument that the
1999 Genevaagreement transferred valid title to the six remaining
paintings to MARDIROSIAN. The Courtheld that the contract was void
because its purpose was illegal; it required the owner to pay
whatin effect was a ransom for the return of his own property.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation
with assistance fromthe Art Loss Registry and its President, Julian
Radcliffe. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S.Attorneys Jonathan F.
Mitchell and Ryan M. DiSantis of Ortizs Economic Crimes Unit, with
the
assistance of Trial Attorney Collette Ford of the Justice
Departments Office of InternationalAffairs.
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