FBI Hot On The Trail Of Art Thieves

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has a strong interest in tracking down art thieves, an investigator told risk managers of companies with corporate art collections as well as museum directors and underwriters at a briefing in New York.

Participants at the session also learned that a majority of art thefts involve items that are warehoused.

The FBI now has a dedicated Art Crime Team of eight agents nationwide who specialize in locating stolen art and artifacts, said Robert K. Wittman, FBI senior investigator.

Mr. Wittman, who spoke at the Inland Marine Underwriters Association's Art Theft and Recovery seminar here this week, invited museum managers, risk managers and underwriters that may have paid a claim to contact him about any unsolved cases of theft of art works or artifacts.

"If you have thefts from days past...let us know," he said. "We'll look at it again. We're interested because by now it's probably been moved across state lines anyway. It's going to be an interstate transportation of stolen property"--a federal felony.

He also invited calls from anyone who may have information about a stolen item or artifact illegally smuggled into the country.

Mr. Wittman said that about 90 percent of museum theft is committed by those with access to art and artifacts, including internal researchers, guards and other employees. Part of the reason is that only about 5 percent of a museum's collection is shown at any given time, which means large numbers of items are in storage.

Gregory J. Smith, with G.J. Smith & Associates, noted that about 60 percent of all thefts involve stored items.

Mr. Wittman said that another problem is fraud. He advised that before buying an expensive piece of artwork, "Be careful. You have to do the due diligence and make sure you do your research. Check for authenticity and check to see that it's not stolen."

He went on to say that some museum directors hesitate to report theft for fear of criticism or reprisal from their board of directors. He noted, however, that no alarm system is perfect and that art theft is a reality that should be dealt with.

David Shillingford, president of the New York-based Art Loss Register, a database containing images and descriptions of 160,000 pieces of stolen art and artifacts, used to identify stolen works, said one of the biggest risks to museums, galleries and corporations with art collections is theft from storage facilities and warehouses.

"Like museum risks, there is a huge difference between a good storage facility and a bad one," he said. "We see a disproportionate number of thefts out of New York warehouses."

Mr. Shillingford mentioned a large forgery case that came to light in the United Kingdom, where an employee of the Tate Museum had access to the records there. Rather than stealing documentation for forgeries, he would simply insert documentation of his forgeries into the files.

"He would say, 'If you don't believe it's real, go ahead and look in the Tate,' and that was the key to his [forgery] success."