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News that a court in Argentina had charged the daughter and son-in-law of a Nazi who stole paintings from European Jews during World War II quickly spread around the world. Although the couple are only charged with concealing stolen works of art, including 22 paintings by French artist Henri Matisse, new details continue to emerge in the case surrounding the high-profile theft of paintings valued at millions of dollars. In addition, this collection is linked to a thrilling detective story in which cryptocurrency was used as a means of payment to conceal the crime. The story began long before an interesting 18th-century painting was accidentally noticed in an advertisement for the sale of real estate in Argentina.
Currently, investigators are working on the theory that the owners wanted to sell not only the property but also some of the artworks. After all, it has already been proven that they created several accounts, including crypto accounts, specifically to hide the proceeds from the sale of the paintings. Historical facts about the paintings indicate that high-ranking Nazis, led by Gestapo founder Hermann Göring, stole the Guderian collection and divided it among themselves. Hitler's financial advisor, Kadgien, was appointed responsible for transporting the looted treasure to South America. But then the traces of this collection were lost for a long time and were found, purely by accident, in Argentina.
According to operational information, a man and a woman came into contact with “black dealers” back in 2024. The initial agreements resulted in several advance payments being transferred to one of their cryptocurrency wallets. However, the situation got out of control when another player entered the game—a thief who learned about the couple's “shady activities.” He tried to break into the house to steal the paintings. But the thief miscalculated—the alarm went off, and the intruder fled without being able to take a single masterpiece. Instead of a painting, he grabbed the first thing he could get his hands on—an ordinary metal coffee can. As it turned out later, there were two cold wallets inside the can. In fact, the thief, having failed to obtain the works of art, stole an even more valuable trophy—access to digital assets. Although surveillance camera footage helped to reconstruct the thief's route, his identity has not yet been established.
According to preliminary estimates by experts, these devices may have contained access keys to the very advances that the couple received for illegal transactions. Experts explain that if the stolen keys are not protected by a multi-level system, the owners may also lose control of their funds forever.
Among other things, the special services are investigating how the couple prepared to sell part of the collection on the black market, who could have acted as their intermediary, and whether the thief is connected to rival criminal groups that wanted to intercept the “goods.”
There is no clear answer to the question of whether the couple still has cryptocurrency assets earned through dishonest means, or whether all the information about the accounts was in the stolen wallets. They do not rule out the version of a random tourist who tried to profit from easy prey in the form of artistic masterpieces.
