Text size: Frenchman accused in art-theft case
Brian Haas and Luis F. Perez | South Florida Sun-sentinel
June 29, 2008
FORT LAUDERDALE - A French citizen living in Florida has been indicted in a stolen-art smuggling scheme born from one of the most brazen art heists in modern history. Bernard Ternus, 55, of Cooper City, was indicted Thursday on a charge of conspiracy to transfer stolen goods by trying to sell four stolen masterpieces for $4.7 million. The French citizen has been in a Miami federal detention facility since June 4, when immigration officials arrested him on charges that he lied about his criminal history on a visa application. That criminal history should have prevented him from even entering the country, immigration attorneys said.

All four paintings -- Claude Monet's "Cliffs near Dieppe," Alfred Sisley's "Lane of Poplars near Moret" and Jan Brueghel the Elder's "Allegory of Earth" and "Allegory of Water" -- have been recovered. The August 2007 theft shocked the art world with its audacity. In broad daylight, five gunmen in jumpsuits stormed the Mus�e des Beaux-Arts in Nice, France. They made off with the four paintings. Museum officials estimated their worth to be at least $1.55 million.
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