Providence, RI – Federal agents are investigating whether a Rhode Island woman broke the law after importing a painting taken from a Jewish art dealer and auctioned by the Nazis.
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Maria-Luise Bissonnette said that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents searched her Providence apartment last week. She said the agents were investigating whether she transferred an illegally imported painting, an allegation she denies.
An ICE spokesman confirmed the search but wouldn’t commentfurther.
The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a ruling last year forcing Bissonnette to surrender a painting to the estate of late Jewish art dealer Max Stern. In 1937, Germany’s Nazi government forcibly auctioned off Stern’s paintings, including one purchased by Bissonnette’s stepfather. His stepdaughter inherited it.