The dark side of the moon

Illicit trafficking in works of art to finance terrorism, money laundering, hidden financing.

“Organized crime has many faces,” added Catherine de Bolle,  Europol’s executive director. “The trafficking of cultural goods is one of them: It is not a glamorous business run by flamboyant gentlemen forgers, but by international criminal networks. You cannot look at it separately from combating trafficking in drugs and weapons: We know that the same groups are engaged, because it generates big money.”

Moreover, even in the consultation of the European Commission for new actions against money laundering, launched to collect input from all citizens, but above all from the most interested parties, there are art dealers in the list of involved stakeholders.

It is evident that for art dealing it is considered necessary to introduce greater control, to make the art market more transparent. However, the value of artworks is inevitably conditioned by their authenticity, which affects the profits that can be made from them. Or by their alleged authenticity. And the absence of shared protocols for certification of works of art leaves much room for maneuver.


Something needs to change