Doug Chrismas, a veteran Manhattan and Los Angeles art gallery owner, found himself in the middle of a $1 billion international fraud case last week after federal agents seized a $1.3 million Lichtenstein painting he sold last year - claiming title to the work of art was “free and clear.”
It turns out the 41-year-old painting, “Modern Painting With Yellow Interweave, 1967,” had been smuggled into the country by a Brazilian money launderer, Edemar Cid Ferreira, the former owner of Banco Santos.
Ferreira, now serving a 21-year prison sentence for defrauding the bank and leaving it with $1 billion in debt, used some of the purloined loot to buy 29 works of art worth more than $100 million. The Lichtenstein is just the third piece to be recovered during a years-long international search by Interpol, US Customs and the FBI.
Friday, August 1, 2008