Urgent Matter database tracks global art crimes

The global art world is facing a growing wave of crime-related incidents ranging from museum heists at the likes of the Louvre Museum and forged masterpieces to fraud, money-laundering and vandalism of public art.

Although precise figures remain elusive, since many crimes go unreported, the FBI estimates that $4 billion to $6 billion of art is stolen each year worldwide.

Meanwhile, the database maintained by Interpol now lists almost 57,000 stolen works of art, with a significant portion never recovered.

This tracker brings together confirmed cases of theft, forgery, vandalism, fraud and institutional breaches affecting the art world. Each entry links to our original reporting and will be updated as the cases evolve.

Violent Crime

2024 Murder of Brent Sikkema

Date: January 15, 2024

What Happened: A federal judge has set a May 11, 2026 jury trial for Daniel Sikkema, who is charged in an alleged murder-for-hire plot that prosecutors say led to the January 2024 stabbing death of prominent gallerist Brent Sikkema in Rio de Janeiro. Daniel Sikkema faces life in prison on charges including racketeering murder-for-hire, conspiracy to commit murder overseas, and passport fraud, though prosecutors have said they will not seek the death penalty. He has pleaded not guilty and is being held in pretrial detention. Court records obtained by Urgent Matter detail prosecutors’ claims that Sikkema orchestrated the killing remotely through intermediaries and covert communications, while Brazilian authorities continue to pursue proceedings against the alleged hitman, Alejandro Triana Prevez.

2026 Murder of John P. Axelrod

Date: January 3, 2026

What Happened: A Boston man, 42-year-old William Haney, has been charged with first-degree murder and animal cruelty for allegedly driving his SUV onto the Commonwealth Avenue Mall and allegedly intentionally running down 79-year-old art collector John P. Axelrod and his dog while they were walking. Axelrod, a longtime Museum of Fine Arts benefactor, died at a hospital after the crash. Haney was ordered held without bail and is undergoing a mental health evaluation ahead of further court proceedings.

Museum Heists

Heists at Various Museums Across the Northeast

Date: Between at least 1999 and 2019

What Happened: A Pennsylvania man has been sentenced to four years in prison for his role in a decades-long art and memorabilia theft ring that prosecutors said operated from 1999 through 2019 and targeted museums, historic sites and cultural institutions throughout the northeast. Joseph Atsus, 51, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Malachy E. Mannion to 48 months in federal prison after a jury found him guilty of conspiracy to commit theft of major artwork and multiple counts of theft and concealment of cultural property. He had been found not guilty on two additional concealment charges. Atsus was also ordered to pay more than $1 million in restitution to a handful of museums. Among the named works were Andy Warhol’s La Grande Passion, stolen from the Everhart Museum in November 2005, and Jackson Pollock’s Springs Winter, which prosecutors said was taken in the same break-in. In 2023, federal prosecutors announced that nine people had been hit with charges and said at the time that all the other items remain missing. Pollock's work is listed in the FBI's National Stolen Art File of missing art.

Mário de Andrade Library Theft

Date: December 7, 2025

What Happened: Armed thieves carried out a targeted robbery at São Paulo’s Mário de Andrade Library, threatening a security guard and visitors before stealing 13 artworks from a public exhibition. The stolen works include eight engravings by Henri Matisse and five pieces by Brazilian modernist Candido Portinari, all taken during a swift daytime heist. Brazilian authorities launched an investigation and alerted international law enforcement partners. A suspect was later identified.

Oakland Museum of California Theft

Date: October 15, 2025

What Happened: Burglars broke into the Oakland Museum’s off-site storage facility just before 3:30 a.m. local time on October 15 and made off with historic artifacts, including Native American baskets and jewelry, as well as laptops owned by the museum. Staff were not present at the time of the burglary. The institution later said that investigators believe the theft was not a targeted heist but a “crime of opportunity.” Police have since released video footage showing the two suspects as investigators seek help from the public in identifying them.

Louvre Museum Jewel Heist

Date: October 19, 2025

What Happened: A group of thieves using a truck-mounted mechanical lift broke into a second-floor window in the Galerie d’Apollon of the Louvre Museum around 9:30 a.m. local time on Sunday, after the museum had already opened its doors to the public, and stole $102 million of Napoleonic jewels before speeding off on motorcycles. Interpol later added the jewels to its Stolen Works of Art database. Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau announced that four people have now been arrested while a fifth suspect remains missing. Police have not yet recovered the stolen jewels. The museum has since added bars to the window where the thieves had entered, among other security measures.

Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle Gold Nugget Theft

Date: September 16, 2025

What Happened: A 24-year-old Chinese woman broke into the natural history museum in Paris around 1 a.m. on September 15 and stole more than 13 pounds of gold nuggets on display, worth about $1.7 million, using an angle grinder and blow torch. She fled France that day and was arrested on September 30 by authorities in Barcelona and transferred to French custody. She was charged with theft in an organized gang—which is punishable by up to 15 years in prison—and criminal conspiracy an investigating judge on October 13.

Maison des Lumières Denis Diderot Coin Theft

Date: October 20, 2025

What Happened: Historic silver and gold coins were taken the day after the Louvre Museum heist from Maison des Lumières Denis Diderot, an institution dedicated to the French philosopher in the town of Langres. The museum was closed to the public at the time. Their exact worth was not immediately known.

National Museum of Damascus Artifact Theft

Date: November 9, 2025

What Happened: Thieves broke in and stole six sculptures dating back to the Ancient Roman era from Syria's National Museum of Damascus, prompting officials to launch an investigation and a review of security measures.

Bristol Museum Storage Theft

Date: September 25, 2025

What Happened: Police in southwest England have released images from closed-circuit television of four men they want to identify in connection with a high-value burglary that saw more than 600 museum artifacts stolen from a storage facility in Bristol. Avon and Somerset Police said the break-in occurred between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m. on September 25, when a group of four men forced entry into a building on Cumberland Road that housed items from the Bristol Museum’s British Empire and Commonwealth collection. Police said they delayed announcing the theft to fully audit what was taken from the museum collection. But that wait has garnered criticism from art theft experts.

Art Theft-Individual Theft

Connecticut Man Steals Courbet Painting

Date: October 1, 2024

What Happened: A Connecticut man was federally indicted in New York for allegedly stealing a painting by Gustave Courbet through a fraud scheme that prosecutors say began with misrepresentations to the artwork’s owner. Authorities allege the defendant obtained control of the painting in 2024 and later sold it without authorization, effectively removing it from the owner’s possession. The case is being prosecuted in federal court and centers on charges tied to art theft and fraud.

Connecticut Antiques Dealer Steals $960,000 From Estate

Date: December 2025

What Happened: An antiques dealer in Greenwich, Connecticut, was charged with five felony counts after he allegedly stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from a dead client’s estate. David L. Johnson operated a business called Antique Treasures as well as an auction house, Greenwich Auction, both based in the city of Stamford. Prosecutors said the victim signed legal documents in October 2018 giving Johnson control over their finances and estate, including naming him to manage and carry out the estate after death. Johnson was not entitled to inherit anything, and the victim died at the age of 87 in August 2020. Federal prosecutors alleged Johnson later stole more than $436,000 from a federal tax refund check belonging to the estate, more than $217,000 from an investment account and more than $308,000 from the proceeds of artwork sales, for a total over $960,000.

Archaeological Looting and Trafficking

Italy Raids Mafia-Linked Grave Robbers

Date: December 12, 2025

What Happened: Italian authorities arrested dozens of suspects in a coordinated crackdown on an archaeological looting and trafficking network operating across Sicily and Calabria, with alleged ties to mafia clans. Prosecutors say the group carried out systematic tomb raiding and moved looted antiquities through middlemen into the international black market, with links extending to the U.K. and Germany. The arrests followed helicopter-backed raids conducted as part of two converging investigations, code-named Ghenos and Scylletium.

Bulgaria Dismantles Trafficking Network

Date: November 19, 2025

What Happened: Bulgarian authorities, with support from Europol and Eurojust, dismantled a major criminal network trafficking looted cultural artifacts, resulting in the arrest of 35 suspects across multiple European countries. Law enforcement executed coordinated raids on 131 homes, vehicles and bank safes, seizing roughly 3,000 artworks and ancient artifacts—including antique gold and silver coins worth more than $115 million. Authorities also seized weapons, documents and cash. The investigation traces back to a 2020 discovery of about 7,000 unprovenanced cultural items and highlights how criminal networks exploit gaps in provenance verification to move stolen antiquities through the international art market.

Art Forgeries

German Forgery Ring Busted

Date: October 15, 2025

What Happened: An international crime ring selling forged paintings purported to be by Pablo Picasso, Rembrandt van Rijn and Peter Paul Rubens, among others, was arrested by German police in the state of Bavaria. Police conducted early morning raids at numerous locations across Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein and seized “a large number” of forged works, as well as documents, phones and computer equipment. The crime ring had been under investigation since the start of the year, and the main suspect was described as a 77-year-old man accused of attempting to sell nearly two dozen forged works for prices between $465,000 and $16.2 million.

Other Incidents

Alaska Student Arrested for Eating Another’s A.I. Artwork

Date: January 13, 2026

What Happened: Graham David Granger, a 19-year-old freshman in the film and performing arts program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, was arrested and charged with a misdemeanor count of criminal mischief for allegedly eating an artwork made by another student using artificial intelligence. Police said Granger admitted to eating the artwork because it was A.I. generated. At least 57 of the 160 artworks hung on the gallery wall were reported to be damaged. Prosecutors alleged in court records that Granger caused property damage valued at less than $250.

Metropolitan Museum of Art Incident, November 2025

Date: November 3, 2025

What Happened: A 19-year-old man was arrested after causing a disturbance inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art, according to the NYPD. Police said Joshua Vaurin was taken into custody and charged with criminal mischief after witnesses and museum security reported erratic behavior. Sources told the New York Post he splashed water on paintings, including Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres’s Princesse de Broglie and Girolamo dai Libri’s Madonna and Child with Saints, and pulled two tapestries from the wall. The museum said no visitors or artworks were harmed and credited its staff and police for a swift response.

Last Updated: 1:14 p.m. January 19, 2026