“Secret Departure of Ivan the Terrible Before the Oprichina,” via U.S. Attorney’s Office.

By Steve Neavling

ticklethewire.com

The FBI tracked down an Ivan the Terrible painting that was stolen by the Nazis during World War II and returned the massive artwork to the Embassy of Ukraine.

The 19th century oil painting, titled “Secret Departure of Ivan the Terrible Before the Oprichina,” was looted from the Dnepropetrovsk Art Museum in Nazi-occupied Ukraine in 1941. More than 75 years later, the FBI’s Art Crime Team was tipped off that the Mikhail N. Panin painting was being prepared for auction.

The 64-square-foot painting was preserved and “admired” for decades in the Connecticut home of Gabby and David Tracy, who had no idea the artwork had been stolen, according to the FBI. In 1987, the couple came into possession of the painting when they bought the home in which artwork had been hung.

“The FBI is proud to work with our partners to mark this important art repatriation and return the painting to the Ukrainian Embassy. The FBI works to return stolen art and other property to preserve the history and culture of countries around the world,” Timothy M. Dunham, special agent in charge of the Washington Field Office’s Criminal Division, said in a news release. “Returning art to the proper owners is important and meaningful work made possible by our talented special agents and analysts.”

Anne Frank

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

A retired FBI agent has made it his mission to determine who notified the Nazis where Anne Frank was hiding during World War II.

Former FBI Agent Vince Pankoke has tapped a 19-member team that plans to use new investigative techniques that weren’t available 50 years ago, the Guardian reports. 

The team also has access to the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, which collects archives and is supporting the investigation.

Pankoke also has received recently declassified documents that may help investigators get closer to solving the mystery.

Frank and her family were found hiding in a secret place above a canal-side warehouse.

Frank was taken to the Auschwitz concentration camp, and she was later shipped to Bergen-Belsen, where she died in 1945 at the age of 15 from typhus.

After the war, authorities never were able to identify who betrayed the family’s hiding spot.

Portrait of a Young Man

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

A painting believed to have been looted by the Nazis during World War II has been returned to the government of Poland, the FBI announced.

A U.S. serviceman brought the “Portrait of a Young Man” by Krzysztof Lubieniecki to America. The Baroque painting was later sold to art collectors in Ohio, the Associated Press report. 

A relative of the servicemen recognized the painting and its likely origin, the FBI said.

The FBI turned over the painting to the Polish Ministry of Cultural and National Heritage.

It’s believed that the painting was created around 1728.

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FBI's Janet Fedarcyk/fbi file photo

The massive scandal to rip off a charitable Holocaust fund designed to benefit victims who were persecuted by the Nazis, continued to unravel in N.Y.  on Wednesday.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan announced the arrest of eight more people for being part of  a plot to defraud the fund out of  $57.3 million. A ninth person charged is expected to surrender voluntarily.

Five of those arrested are former employees of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, which administered the charitable programs. The five were charged with knowingly approving nearly 5,000 fraudulent applications, resulting in the payout to unqualified applicants, in exchange for kickbacks. Since prosecution began in the case, a total of 30 people have been charged in connection with the scheme.

The latest folks charged in the case include: Henry Gordin; Genrikh Kolontyrskiy; Viktor Levin; Ella Voskresenskiy; Zlata Blavatnik; Pyotr Blavatnik; Yevgeniya Abramovich; Asya Galindo; and Lana Kagan, the ninth who is expected to surrender voluntarily.

“These defendants had a hand in fabricating, filing, or processing nearly 5,000 fraudulent claims on behalf of non-qualifying applicants,” Janice K. Fedarcyk, head of the N.Y. FBI said in a statement. Claims Conference funds have been drained of $57 million meant for Holocaust victims, and a large portion of the diverted money went into the pockets of corrupt insiders. These were people hired to give who conspired to take.”

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara added:  “As I said when the initial charges in this case were announced, my office, working with our partners at the FBI, would not stop until we brought to justice those who are alleged to have stolen more than $57 million from the Claims Conference, thereby diverting money intended for survivors of the Holocaust. With today’s charges, we have now identified 30 people who allegedly exploited a fund that is as symbolically important as it is necessary to its beneficiaries. We again thank the Claims Conference for their outstanding ongoing assistance in identifying the participants in this scheme.”

 Read press release