Posted on 02/01/2006 5:52:24 AM PST by Airborne1986
For 28 years it has stood as the largest unsolved burglary from a private residence in state history: the theft of seven paintings, including a Cezanne, from a collector's home in the Berkshires. ....[T]he mystery was abruptly solved, as a retired Massachusetts lawyer told the Globe he has secretly held the stolen paintings, worth millions of dollars, since 1978. ....
[Retired attorney] Robert M. Mardirosian, 71, said in an interview that the paintings were left with him by the lead suspect in the theft, a Pittsfield man whom Mardirosian was representing in another case. ...
In 1988, he said, he moved them from Massachusetts to Monaco and then to a bank in Switzerland for safekeeping while he figured out a plan for returning them to Bakwin for a finder's fee or reward of 10 percent of their value. ...
Mardirosian acknowledged in the Globe interview that he was able to keep secret his possession of the paintings over the years by working through lawyers in London, Monaco, and Switzerland, as well as a shell company he incorporated in Panama, which does not name him as owner. He tried to sell the paintings on two occasions through the shell company, Erie International Trading Co., but failed in 1999 and again last year. On both occasions the Art Loss Register, a London-based company that tracks stolen artwork, was alerted to the sales and took steps to stop them. ...
For his part, Mardirosian said he was considering filing suit against [the owner of the art] in US courts for reneging on a deal that Erie Trading made with Bakwin in 1999. Under that agreement, the Cezanne was returned to Bakwin, and title to the other six paintings was signed over to Erie.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
The Doctrine of Transubstantiation for Lawyers: Any level of moral turpitude becomes virtue as long as it's for a client.
"Mardirosian said he was considering filing suit against [the owner of the art] in US courts for reneging on a deal "
He's considering sueing the owner, who's paintings were STOLEN by his client, because he won't PAY to get them back!
This lawyer is a POS and needs to be arrested immediately!
What's really strnge here is that paintings by Cezanne are hardly unknown or obscure.
The lawyer is as big a thief as his client ever was. And should, in short order, no longer be a lawyer.
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Too bad for this moron that attorney-client privilege does not provide immunity from criminal prosecution for committing a crime, here knowing receipt of stolen property.
He's going to lose.
uh lemme see, he had them and knew they were stolen and did nothing to return them - sounds like posession of stolen goods to me, PLUS he tried to shake down the owner for a 10 percent random - sounds like extortion.
why isn't this guy in jail? Why hasn't he been disbarred?
He's already retired, so there isn't much point in disbarring him, but they might anyway.
As for jail, give the cops and/or Fibbies a little while to get their legal ducks in a row and then pick him up. My bet is that he is NOT going to like how this plays out.
Outrageous conduct by the lawyer.
Well he could be asking for a storage fee
POS doesn't even come close to and accurate description of this jack@ss! IMHO.
I hope he pays for his deeds for all eternity in HeLL!!!!
i'll give him a storage fee!
had that been you or I, we would have been thrown in the hoosegow ten minutes after they dioscovered what we had done. this guy, rich and a "retired" lawyer, gets the limelight.
now I am wondering if this guy could also have been involved in the Garnined museum art theft.
I wonder if they can disbar him even though he's retired?
He oughta do some hard time in any event. I hope they throw the book at him.
"why isn't this guy in jail? Why hasn't he been disbarred?"
Story just broke. I bet he is arrested by Friday. He is going to be sued. I am not sure if a retired attorney can disbarred or professionally sanctioned for something that happened this long ago. But, if it is possible, it is going to happen.
"The lawyer is as big a thief as his client ever was. And should, in short order, no longer be a lawyer."
He is retired from the bar. But, ironically, he is now an artist.
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