THIS man is more ethical than BUSH:
LESLIE DOYLE
Retired Mass. lawyer held stolen paintings
February 2, 2006
BOSTON --A retired Massachusetts lawyer says he secretly held seven
stolen paintings, including a Paul Cezanne still-life worth millions of
dollars, for 28 years because he wanted a 10 percent finder's fee.
The paintings, including Cezanne's "Bouilloire et Fruits," had been
stolen from a collector's home in the Berkshires in 1978.
Robert M. Mardirosian, the retired lawyer, said the work was left in a
bag in his attic by a client he was representing in another case.
"He was going to bring them to Florida to fence them, but I told him
that if he ever got caught with them with the other case hanging over
his head, he'd be in real trouble," Mardirosian said in Wednesday's
Boston Globe. "So he left them upstairs in my attic in a big plastic
bag."
When Mardirosian said he discovered the paintings in 1979, the alleged
thief, David Colvin, had been shot to death by two men seeking to
collect on a debt. The lawyer said he considered returning the works to
their owner, Michael Bakwin, who lived in Stockbridge at the time, but
changed his mind when he discovered that none of the art had been
insured.
Mardirosian, 71, hid the paintings in Monaco and then in a Swiss bank
while he said he worked to recoup 10 percent of their value from Bakwin.
He set up a shell company to facilitate a trade or sale.
A lawsuit filed last year by Bakwin and the Art Loss Register, a
London-based company that tracks stolen artwork, led to a hearing
Tuesday in London, during which Mardirosian was identified as sole owner
of the shell company, Erie International.
The judge ruled that Mardirosian was responsible for paying an estimated
$3 million in court, legal, and investigative fees accumulated by Bakwin
in trying to get his paintings back.
"I know some things don't look good here, but I believe I have a
legitimate case to make," Mardirosian said. "I could have sold these a
dozen times, but never did. My whole intent was to find a way to get
them back to the owner in return for a 10 percent commission."
The other works include two portraits by Chaim Soutine and two by French
painters Maurice de Vlaminck and Maurice Utrillo.
The chairman of Art Loss Register said he hopes the FBI investigates
Mardirosian's role in the theft.
"Mardirosian should have surrendered these stolen pictures as soon as he
knew of their location," said Julian Radcliffe. "We will be providing
all the help that we can to the FBI."
The FBI does not confirm or deny whether it is conducting an
investigation, spokeswoman Nenette Day said.
Bakwin, who now lives in Virginia, could not be reached Wednesday. He is
traveling, but was in touch with English officials Tuesday, Radcliffe
said.
"He was very pleased to hear about the developments," he said.
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LESLIE DOYLE
lesj...@fastmail.fm
"SURROUND your workplace with mosquito netting and make jungle noises."
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