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Boston art heist solved? Nope, just fraud
attempt, prosecutors say
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 [May 23, 2017]
BOSTON (Reuters) - A West Virginia
man was arrested on Monday and charged with fraudulently claiming he
could sell some of the $500 million in artwork stolen from a Boston
museum a quarter century ago, even though he had no access to the
long-sought masterpieces.
Todd Andrew Desper, 47, of Beckley, West Virginia, was accused of
running a scheme in which he offered to sell Rembrandt's "Storm on the
Sea of Galilee," and Vermeer's "The Concert," two of the 13 artworks
stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in March 1990 in the
largest art heist in U.S. history.
That theft remains one of the highest-profile unsolved crimes in Boston
history, and Desper's attempt to woo buyers in cities including Venice
and London led some collectors to tip off the museum's director about
the offer to sell the pair of paintings for $5 million, federal
prosecutors said.
Desper, who used the alias "Mordokwan," was charged with wire fraud and
attempted wire fraud, and could face up to 20 years in prison if
convicted.
An attorney for Desper did not immediately respond to a request for
comment.
The Gardner heist was carried out by two men dressed in police uniforms
who apparently overpowered a night security guard who had buzzed them
in.
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United States Attorney Carmen Ortiz speaks during a press conference
at the FBI's Boston Field Office held to appeal to the public for
help in returning artwork stolen in 1990 from the Isabella Stewart
Gardner Museum in Boston, Massachusetts March 18, 2013.
REUTERS/Jessica Rinaldi/File Photo
Due to a quirk in Gardner's will, the empty frames that held the
paintings remain on the walls of the museum she built to house the
collection she amassed with her husband.
The art must be displayed the way it was during her lifetime,
preventing curators from hanging new works, and leaving a constant
reminder of the theft.
(Reporting by Scott Malone; Editing by Peter Cooney)
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