Lynda Albertson
@sauterne.bsky.social
Forensic researcher and cybrarian using bibliometric analysis to develop accurate quantitative analysis on subjects of illicit trafficking, organised crime and looted/stolen art and antiquities at ARCA. Friends say I am 'fingerspitzengefühl' with data. :)
Reposted by Lynda Albertson
Denver Post confirms what we’ve been hearing: nearly all federal HSI agents with expertise on cultural property crimes have been reassigned to immigration duties in recent months.
Major loss of law enforcement capabilities in the world’s largest art market.
www.denverpost.com/2025/11/06/u...
Major loss of law enforcement capabilities in the world’s largest art market.
www.denverpost.com/2025/11/06/u...
The U.S. was a leader in cultural heritage investigations. Now those agents are working immigration enforcement.
Homeland Security Investigations, the department’s investigative arm, once had as many as eight agents in its New York office investigating cultural property cases.
www.denverpost.com
November 6, 2025 at 11:52 PM
Denver Post confirms what we’ve been hearing: nearly all federal HSI agents with expertise on cultural property crimes have been reassigned to immigration duties in recent months.
Major loss of law enforcement capabilities in the world’s largest art market.
www.denverpost.com/2025/11/06/u...
Major loss of law enforcement capabilities in the world’s largest art market.
www.denverpost.com/2025/11/06/u...
On 30 Octrober 2025, right-leaning French news media outlet, Frontières, who I won't link to here named the first two arrested in the Louvre case as Ayed Ghelamallah, 34, born in Mostaganem and of Algerian nationality, and Abdoulaye Niakate , 39, born and residing in Aubervilliers. 1 of 2
November 6, 2025 at 7:59 AM
On 30 Octrober 2025, right-leaning French news media outlet, Frontières, who I won't link to here named the first two arrested in the Louvre case as Ayed Ghelamallah, 34, born in Mostaganem and of Algerian nationality, and Abdoulaye Niakate , 39, born and residing in Aubervilliers. 1 of 2
Reposted by Lynda Albertson
From Cairo to Barcelona to The Hague: How One Dealer’s Footprint Lingers in Repatriation Cases
art-crime.blogspot.com/2025/11/from...
art-crime.blogspot.com/2025/11/from...
From Cairo to Barcelona to The Hague: How One Dealer’s Footprint Lingers in Repatriation Cases
"A blog about art crimes, illicit trafficking, forgery, art theft and cultural heritage protection."
art-crime.blogspot.com
November 3, 2025 at 9:14 AM
From Cairo to Barcelona to The Hague: How One Dealer’s Footprint Lingers in Repatriation Cases
art-crime.blogspot.com/2025/11/from...
art-crime.blogspot.com/2025/11/from...
October 31, 2025 at 10:30 AM
5 more people arrested in Louvre Museum heist.
Breakthrough in Louvre Museum Crown Jewels Theft: Five New Arrests
art-crime.blogspot.com/2025/10/brea...
art-crime.blogspot.com/2025/10/brea...
Breakthrough in Louvre Crown Jewels Theft: Five New Arrests
"A blog about art crimes, illicit trafficking, forgery, art theft and cultural heritage protection."
art-crime.blogspot.com
October 30, 2025 at 8:46 AM
5 more people arrested in Louvre Museum heist.
It took thieves a little under seven minutes to steal the French crown jewels from the Louvre. It could take them a lot longer to make any profit from them. www.wsj.com/video/series...
You’ve Stolen the French Crown Jewels. Now What?
It took thieves a little under seven minutes to steal the French crown jewels from the Louvre. It could take them a lot longer to make any profit from them.
www.wsj.com
October 27, 2025 at 1:50 PM
It took thieves a little under seven minutes to steal the French crown jewels from the Louvre. It could take them a lot longer to make any profit from them. www.wsj.com/video/series...
Poland secures return of stolen artwork that appeared for auction in Denmark.
notesfrompoland.com/2025/10/27/p...
notesfrompoland.com/2025/10/27/p...
Poland secures return of stolen artwork that appeared for auction in Denmark
notesfrompoland.com
October 27, 2025 at 12:32 PM
Poland secures return of stolen artwork that appeared for auction in Denmark.
notesfrompoland.com/2025/10/27/p...
notesfrompoland.com/2025/10/27/p...
Louvre Museum Robbery: DNA Evidence Leads Police to Two Suspects
art-crime.blogspot.com/2025/10/two-...
art-crime.blogspot.com/2025/10/two-...
Two Suspects Arrested in Connection with the Louvre Museum Jewel Heist
"A blog about art crimes, illicit trafficking, forgery, art theft and cultural heritage protection."
art-crime.blogspot.com
October 26, 2025 at 12:01 PM
Louvre Museum Robbery: DNA Evidence Leads Police to Two Suspects
art-crime.blogspot.com/2025/10/two-...
art-crime.blogspot.com/2025/10/two-...
Two suspects arrested in Louvre theft.
One of whom was preparing to board a flight to Algiers.
www.20minutes.fr/societe/4181...
One of whom was preparing to board a flight to Algiers.
www.20minutes.fr/societe/4181...
Deux hommes interpellés samedi soir pour le cambriolage au Louvre
Un total de quatre malfaiteurs avaient participé à un commando et au vol de bijoux dans le Louvre
www.20minutes.fr
October 26, 2025 at 11:28 AM
Two suspects arrested in Louvre theft.
One of whom was preparing to board a flight to Algiers.
www.20minutes.fr/societe/4181...
One of whom was preparing to board a flight to Algiers.
www.20minutes.fr/societe/4181...
Reposted by Lynda Albertson
Balancing Beauty and Risk: The Challenge of Museum Security in Historic Buildings.
art-crime.blogspot.com/2025/10/bala...
art-crime.blogspot.com/2025/10/bala...
Balancing Beauty and Risk: The Challenge of Museum Security in Historic Buildings
"A blog about art crimes, illicit trafficking, forgery, art theft and cultural heritage protection."
art-crime.blogspot.com
October 25, 2025 at 10:57 AM
Balancing Beauty and Risk: The Challenge of Museum Security in Historic Buildings.
art-crime.blogspot.com/2025/10/bala...
art-crime.blogspot.com/2025/10/bala...
While everyone who has never committed a museum theft is opining about the Louvre theft, giving opinions on how it was possible, I thought I'd highlight a museum thief's opinion on a) could it happen again and b) one person's motivations.
www.npr.org/2025/10/23/n...
www.npr.org/2025/10/23/n...
October 25, 2025 at 8:39 AM
While everyone who has never committed a museum theft is opining about the Louvre theft, giving opinions on how it was possible, I thought I'd highlight a museum thief's opinion on a) could it happen again and b) one person's motivations.
www.npr.org/2025/10/23/n...
www.npr.org/2025/10/23/n...
When a stolen Picasso turns out to not be a stolen Picasso.
art-crime.blogspot.com/2025/10/when...
art-crime.blogspot.com/2025/10/when...
When a stolen Picasso turns out to not be a stolen Picasso
"A blog about art crimes, illicit trafficking, forgery, art theft and cultural heritage protection."
art-crime.blogspot.com
October 24, 2025 at 10:11 AM
When a stolen Picasso turns out to not be a stolen Picasso.
art-crime.blogspot.com/2025/10/when...
art-crime.blogspot.com/2025/10/when...
If one more person asks me if the Louvre jewels are in some secret lair I am going to develop a nervous tic.
art-crime.blogspot.com/2025/10/beyo...
art-crime.blogspot.com/2025/10/beyo...
Beyond the “Dr. No” Myth: Rethinking Who Steals from Museums like the Louvre and Why
"A blog about art crimes, illicit trafficking, forgery, art theft and cultural heritage protection."
art-crime.blogspot.com
October 22, 2025 at 10:34 AM
If one more person asks me if the Louvre jewels are in some secret lair I am going to develop a nervous tic.
art-crime.blogspot.com/2025/10/beyo...
art-crime.blogspot.com/2025/10/beyo...
Four minutes after we published this I had to edit to add in another theft this week of gold and silver pieces from the musée de la Maison des Lumières Denis Diderot.
The Louvre museum is not the only museum which has been robbed of its gold and jewel finery, here are 16 others.
art-crime.blogspot.com/2025/10/fran...
art-crime.blogspot.com/2025/10/fran...
October 21, 2025 at 10:16 AM
Four minutes after we published this I had to edit to add in another theft this week of gold and silver pieces from the musée de la Maison des Lumières Denis Diderot.
So now we have to be subjected to AI opinions about museum thefts?
October 19, 2025 at 8:06 PM
So now we have to be subjected to AI opinions about museum thefts?
Reposted by Lynda Albertson
Thank you to the Antiquities Coalition @combatlooting.bsky.social for interviewing me on Douglas Latchford's "first big heist," of Thailand's Prakhon Chai bronzes, and how he successfully marketed them by exploiting particular art world practices theantiquitiescoalition.org/inside-the-h...
Inside the Hunt for the Prakhon Chai Hoard: AC Interviews Dr. Angela Chiu - Antiquities Coalition
New evidence about the Prakhon Chai Hoard reveals the origins of one of the world’s most notorious antiquities trafficking rings. How did Douglas Latchford—who for decades was a “one-man supply-and-de...
theantiquitiescoalition.org
October 19, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Thank you to the Antiquities Coalition @combatlooting.bsky.social for interviewing me on Douglas Latchford's "first big heist," of Thailand's Prakhon Chai bronzes, and how he successfully marketed them by exploiting particular art world practices theantiquitiescoalition.org/inside-the-h...
Two display cases in the Louvre Museum (the ones containing "Napoleon Jewellery" and "Sovereign Jewellery" ) are said to have been breached using a chainsaw.
October 19, 2025 at 11:40 AM
Two display cases in the Louvre Museum (the ones containing "Napoleon Jewellery" and "Sovereign Jewellery" ) are said to have been breached using a chainsaw.
it's just civil resistance they say. It doesn't damage they say. Tell that to these folks who now have to clean "First Tribute to Christopher Columbus (October 12, 1492)" by José Garnelo y Alda (1892).
Crimes against historical heritage are punishable by imprisonment under the Spanish Penal Code.
Crimes against historical heritage are punishable by imprisonment under the Spanish Penal Code.
October 15, 2025 at 5:53 PM
it's just civil resistance they say. It doesn't damage they say. Tell that to these folks who now have to clean "First Tribute to Christopher Columbus (October 12, 1492)" by José Garnelo y Alda (1892).
Crimes against historical heritage are punishable by imprisonment under the Spanish Penal Code.
Crimes against historical heritage are punishable by imprisonment under the Spanish Penal Code.
We don't have money for Federal workers or Medicaid, for USAID but we have money to shop $85 million to ship the Discovery shuttle to Texas. www.scientificamerican.com/article/movi...
The Strange Saga of the Great Texas Space Shuttle Heist
Texas lawmakers want to move the Smithsonian’s retired space shuttle to Houston. It’s “a vanity project that is apt to destroy a near-priceless American treasure,” one historian says
www.scientificamerican.com
October 14, 2025 at 6:48 AM
We don't have money for Federal workers or Medicaid, for USAID but we have money to shop $85 million to ship the Discovery shuttle to Texas. www.scientificamerican.com/article/movi...
Reposted by Lynda Albertson
Caveat Emptor: What the Dancing Maenad Can Tell Us About the Market for Looted Art.
art-crime.blogspot.com/2025/10/cave...
art-crime.blogspot.com/2025/10/cave...
October 8, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Caveat Emptor: What the Dancing Maenad Can Tell Us About the Market for Looted Art.
art-crime.blogspot.com/2025/10/cave...
art-crime.blogspot.com/2025/10/cave...
Thieves used a power saw to remove a painted section from the historic wall inside the tomb of Khentkaus in the Giza Governorate in Egypt. apnews.com/article/egyp...
A limestone pharaonic painting vanishes from the famed Saqqara necropolis in Egypt
Egyptian antiquities officials have reported the disappearance of a pharaonic painting from the Saqqara necropolis near Cairo.
apnews.com
October 7, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Thieves used a power saw to remove a painted section from the historic wall inside the tomb of Khentkaus in the Giza Governorate in Egypt. apnews.com/article/egyp...
Reposted by Lynda Albertson
The frame of Patricia Kadgien's own Facebook photo of a still life owned by her SS officer father is a perfect match for the stolen painting by Abraham Mignon when overlaid onto the still life currently in the collection of the Museo de Arte Decorativo in Buenos Aires.
September 4, 2025 at 2:40 PM
The frame of Patricia Kadgien's own Facebook photo of a still life owned by her SS officer father is a perfect match for the stolen painting by Abraham Mignon when overlaid onto the still life currently in the collection of the Museo de Arte Decorativo in Buenos Aires.
Update: The looted Goudstikker painting will be stored at the Holocaust Museum in Buenos Aires for now. Patricia Kadgien and her husband appeared in court, where their passports were confiscated and they were formally charged with possessing and concealing ‘stolen art in the context of genocide.’
September 4, 2025 at 6:07 PM
Update: The looted Goudstikker painting will be stored at the Holocaust Museum in Buenos Aires for now. Patricia Kadgien and her husband appeared in court, where their passports were confiscated and they were formally charged with possessing and concealing ‘stolen art in the context of genocide.’
Will this stolen World War II area painting tied to Friedrich Kadgien leave the pampa and go back where it belongs?
The frame of Patricia Kadgien's own Facebook photo of a still life owned by her SS officer father is a perfect match for the stolen painting by Abraham Mignon when overlaid onto the still life currently in the collection of the Museo de Arte Decorativo in Buenos Aires.
September 4, 2025 at 2:55 PM
Will this stolen World War II area painting tied to Friedrich Kadgien leave the pampa and go back where it belongs?
The Argentine Public Prosecutor's Office recently displayed the canvas from the Goudstikker collection during a press conference in the city of Mar del Plata.
September 3, 2025 at 7:53 PM
The Argentine Public Prosecutor's Office recently displayed the canvas from the Goudstikker collection during a press conference in the city of Mar del Plata.