ABOVE: Robert M. Mardirosan, a Massachusetts lawyer who looked after a set of stolen paintings for 28 years, in his Falmouth, Mass. studio.

Strange story today out of Massachusetts, where a lawyer, Robert Madirosan, has apparently admitted to hiding seven paintings, allegedly stolen by one of his clients, for more than 28 years. The seven paintings, including a Cézanne, were stolen from Stockbridge, Mass., in 1978. A private investigator, one Charlie Moore, has been searching for them since 1979, at the behest of the paintings’ rightful owner.

The illuminating part of the whole story was the labyrinthine series of anonymous intermediaries, shell companies, and border-hopping escrow deals that allowed Madirosan to negotiate the return of the Cézanne painting in return for a promise to waive ownership of the other six paintings. And all this was executed by this one dude a hundred miles down the road from the house the paintings were stolen from in the first place. The statute of limitations applies to the original thefts, and Madirosan was never implicated in the theft itself, so that’s not his problem. There will likely be fines, and the cost of refurbishing the purloined paintings, but criminal charges are still up in the air, related to the 1999 Cézanne deal. If you’ve ever wondered how shady international art deals are made, this is a fascinating piece of reading.

LINK: Cape Cod Times > Gumshoes trace stolen art to Cape