NCS
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A German museum employee swapped out a painting with a fake and then bought the original to purchase luxurious items, together with a Rolls Royce and costly wristwatches, in accordance to a Munich court docket.
The 30-year-old man, who stays unnamed due to Germany’s strict privateness legal guidelines, was additionally convicted of stealing three different artworks. He averted jail however was handed a 21-month suspended sentence and ordered to pay again the museum greater than 60,600 euros ($64,200).
In a press launch printed Monday, Munich District Court stated its sentencing took into consideration that the person had confessed and proven “genuine remorse.”
“He said he acted without thinking,” learn the court docket ruling. “He can no longer explain his behavior today,”
The man, who was an employee of the Deutsches Museum in Munich, labored in assortment administration from May 2016 to April 2018.
During that point, he stole “Das Märchen vom Froschkönig” (The Tale of the Frog Prince) by Franz von Stuck, changed it with a fake and put the original up for public sale. He lied to a Munich public sale home, saying the painting had as soon as belonged to his grandparents or great-grandparents. It later bought to a Swiss gallery for 70,000 euros ($74,000), and the person obtained nearly 50,000 euros ($52,000) in money, after public sale charges have been deducted.
He additionally stole three different work from the museum’s storage facility, and efficiently bought two of them — “Die Weinprüfung” (The Wine Test) by Eduard von Grützner and “Zwei Mädchen beim Holzsammeln im Gebirge” (Two Girls Collecting Wood within the Mountains) by Franz von Defregger. One of the works was bought through public sale and the opposite was bought instantly by the public sale home, netting him one other 11,490 euros ($12,184).
He used the cash to repay money owed and fund a “luxurious lifestyle,” the court docket stated, including: “The defendant shamelessly exploited the opportunity to access the storage rooms … and sold valuable cultural assets in order to secure a high standard of living for himself and to show off.”
The man additionally tried to public sale off the opposite stolen painting, “Dirndl” by Franz von Defregger, at a unique Munich public sale home, however it didn’t promote.
In a press release emailed to NCS, the public sale home behind the three profitable gross sales, Ketterer Kunst, stated it had “simply not (been) possible to identify them as stolen property.”
“We have fulfilled our duty of care in full and have researched the works mentioned extensively,” added an public sale home spokesperson. “We regret that the works were stolen from the museum … (and) we cooperated closely with the (police) at an early stage and handed over all documents to solve this case.”
The Deutsches Museum in the meantime advised NCS that it’s making efforts to get well the work. In an e-mail, a spokesperson stated the museum was searching for to have the gross sales reversed, and that one of many work is already in police possession.
The spokesperson added that the realm from which the work have been stolen is “basically sufficiently secured,” and that the museum had performed a background verify on the person, who on the time had no felony file.