Martha Lufkin

Ex-Getty antiquities curator appears in Italian court

Marion True made a surprise appearance on the first day of the trial

Now former Getty antiquities curator Marion True goes on trial this month

Marion True has resigned from the museum and the institution is to return three artefacts to Italy

Nazi lootarchive

$6.5 million settlement to heir for stolen Picasso

Chicago collector agrees to pay claimant to gain title to the work

Nazi Loot Picasso case can proceed in California

Marilynn Alsdorf had hoped the case would be thrown out of court

US court could hear case against the City of Amsterdam for Kazimir Malevich works of art at the Stedelijk Museum

The heirs of Kazimir Malevich are claiming 14 works which the Dutch institution sent on tour to New York and Houston

Respected Pre-Colombian art dealers indicted over fraud

The Merrin brothers are accused of defrauding clients out of millions of dollars

Lawsuitsarchive

Collector sues gallery over right to first choice of artists’ work

He was promised preferential treatment (and paid for it) but was then left out of almost all sales

Harvard’s barcode revolution: the University makes plans to digitise its huge art collection

By 2007 Harvard will be able to track the collection digitally, and everything will be accessible

Struggles continue over Klimt Nazi-loot lawsuit

Maria Altmann had urged an earlier trial date while in dispute with Austrian government

Art crimearchive

Shell Company Lawsuit: Gagosian and Brant pay $10 million to Uncle Sam in unpaid taxes

The US lawsuit alleged they created a shell company to avoid paying dues

Lebanesearchive

Lebanese antiquities dealers prosecuted in US and Egypt

Hicham Aboutaam has pleaded guilty in the US to a Customs misdemeanour while his brother, Ali, is seeking to have his conviction by an Egyptian court nullified

July 2004archive

Austria can be sued in the US over Nazi-loot case, Supreme Court says

The Justices rule six to three in favour of Maria Altmann. She can now pursue her case in American courts

April 2004archive

Oral arguments begin in Supreme Court Klimt case

The Bush administration argues that Austria cannot be sued in a US court because it would interfere with foreign relations

Malevich heirs claim paintings—again

A suit has been filed in a US federal court for 14 paintings in the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam

How the contents of Iran’s Western Cave were dispersed

Many of the objects, some extant since the first millennium BC, were looted from the site and entered the international market

Antiquities dealer arrested for smuggling Iranian artefact from raided archaeological site into US

Hicham Aboutaam sold the antiquity to a New York buyer for $950,000; the US says it is part of a the looted Western Cave hoard

Iraqarchive

Military personnel unearth secret hoard of Jewish manuscripts belonging to Saddam Hussein in search for weapons of mass destruction

Found in the headquarters of Saddam’s secret police force in Baghdad, the cache has been transferred to Washington for conservation

Maria Altmann's Holocaust restitution case against Austria will be heard by the US Supreme Court

An American citizen is claiming six Klimts from the Nationalgalerie in Vienna alleged to have been seized from her uncle by the Nazis and then unlawfully retained by Austria after the war

The Springfield Museum sues Knoedler over spoliated Bassano

Knoedler's poor provenance research led to the return of a $3 million painting to Italy

Claim for slice of the action at LACMA as new show uses paintings subject to restitution claims

A French plaintiff says he deserves a percentage of exhibition ticket sales at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art because the works on display were taken from his grandfather after the Russian Revolution

US sues Larry Gagosian seeking back income taxes on art sales

Taxman claims he and others created a shell company to avoid tax

Furniture proves the next frontier in restitution as Fraenkel objects are tracked down

A claim brought against the Musée Carnavalet in Paris has an effect on US museums

Austrian court orders seizure of Nazi-looted Schiele

Heirs will have to sue for the painting, which is currently being held at Dorotheum

Lawarchive

Barbara Kruger case: Art trumps right to privacy

A US Federal court has thrown out the case against artist Barbara Kruger for her appropriation of a 1960 photo, and against the Whitney Museum and LA MoCA for selling goods reproducing the offending image