Dutch Foundation Gets $24-Million in Insurance in Art Heist

The foundation that owned seven masterworks stolen last fall from Rotterdam’s Kunsthal museum has collected nearly $24-million in insurance and given up its rights to the pieces, indicating it does not expect to recover them, according to The New York Times.

The Times cites statements by lawyers for a group of Romanians standing trial in Bucharest for the October 2012 heist, in which paintings and drawings by Picasso, Monet, and other masters were stolen. A contract obtained by the defense indicates the Netherlands Antilles-based Triton Foundation transferred ownership of the works to an insurance underwriter in February and collected the payout.

The foundation was formed two years ago after the death of Willem Cordia, a millionaire Dutch investor and collector, and is now run by a member of his family. It has remained publicly silent on the fate of the stolen art. Olga Dogaru, the mother of the admitted ringleader of the theft, told investigators in February that she had burned the paintings, but she has since retracted the claim.