Art recovery rivals settle their legal differences

The legal disputes between the UK’s rival stolen art recovery businesses, the Art Loss Register (ALR) and the Art Recovery Group (ARG), have been settled out of court. In July 2015, ALR took a civil claim to the UK’s high court, which accused Chris Marinello, who had worked for ALR between 2006 and 2013 before founding ARG’s database in 2015, and others of “the unlawful establishment” of ARG. Marinello and the other defendants filed a counterclaim in which all allegations were denied. A subsequent reply and defence was lodged by ALR in December, which also denied all allegations. Neither party would comment on the settlement.