Basquiat work located in N.Y.
An $8-million painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat has been located in a Manhattan warehouse after apparently being smuggled out of Brazil, federal prosecutors said.
Prosecutors filed papers Wednesday seeking to seize the 1982 painting, called “Hannibal,” in an effort to help Brazilian authorities claim it.
U.S. authorities said they found the painting in an Upper East Side warehouse in November. It wasn’t clear who brought it into the U.S., but prosecutors said it arrived via John F. Kennedy International Airport.
Its last known owner was Edemar Cid Ferreira, the former owner of Banco Santos and one of Brazil’s largest art collectors. The bank went bankrupt in September 2005, and Ferreira was convicted in Brazil on charges including money laundering and bank fraud.
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