My Paintings Were Stolen

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 Lucky Ambrose was about to retire as a flight attendant with Italian International Airlines. His retirement pay would allow him to live — barely — in Barstow, California. On a layover in Rome, he found a means to retire in comfort while browsing the Vatican Art Museum.

He purchased a disposable flash camera at the souvenir shop and started snapping photographs of works of art in the museum. Of the twelve pictures he took two came out relatively clear, marred only by a blotch of white from the flash reflecting off the oils. They were pictures called:

  1. “San Giorgio Che Occide Il Drago,”

  2. Paris Bordone’s 1525 painting of St. George slaying the dragon, and

  3. “Madonna Della Pera,” painted by Alessandro Buonvicino, known as Moretto Diana Brescia, in 1505.

Ambrose reported a burglary at his Barstow home and made claim for $555,000. 

Suspicions and red flags are not enough to deny a claim. Lucky Ambrose was paid what he asked and signed a subrogation and salvage agreement assigning all of his rights to the paintings to the insurance company.

The jury returned a verdict in favor of Good Neighbor for the amount paid, interest at the legal rate, and attorneys fees.

The state of California investigated whether to arrest Ambrose but emulated the actions of the U.S. Attorney. He could go have gone to jail. His retirement plans could have been destroyed by an Italian cop who knows art better than the agents, underwriters and claims people at Good Neighbor Insurance Company.

He sold his house in Barstow and moved to Boise, Idaho before the state of California and the U.S. Attorney had time to change their mind. 

ZALMA OPINION

Even a well trained, experienced fraud investigator, when saving some money for the insurer cannot help convince a prosecutor that a case can be proved of fraud beyond a reasonable doubt. To a prosecutor it is easier to convict a person accused of a violent crime against an innocent person with a three page police report rather than a detailed investigation establishing that a person is trying to steal from an insurance company.

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Barry Zalma, Esq., CFE, is available at http://www.zalma.com and [email protected].

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