Meet The ArtRisk Group
Welcome to ArtDiligence – a page where you'll find information about art and cultural heritage, expert commentary, and deeper analysis of recent developments and events by the four founding members of The ArtRisk Group.
I’m Jane Levine, and I’d like to introduce myself and my three co-founders and share the story of how The ArtRisk Group came to be. Throughout my career, I’ve worked at the intersection of the international art market, financial crime, and compliance. As a federal prosecutor, I recovered and returned a Jacopo de’ Barbari masterpiece stolen from a German castle post-WWII, convicted the ringleader in an international forgery scheme, and was involved in one of the first convictions of an internet art fraud scheme with dozens of victims. During my time at Sotheby’s, I ran the market’s first and only department dedicated to global compliance and government affairs during a time of intense legal and regulatory scrutiny. So, needless to say, I’ve seen a lot.
The art world is a place of wonderful opportunity, but it’s also a place of real risk. Is the dealer you’re engaging with honest? Are you confident that the work you are acquiring has no title issues which could lead to a future repatriation claim? Are you comfortable with the source and destination of your funds?
Transactions in the art world are complex, as they can involve extremely high-value and unique works and the full scope of what’s going on is not always transparent. This doesn’t mean that every transaction is riddled with illegal activity (for every fraud case in the art world, there are hundreds of flawless transactions), but it has also long been a hotbed for criminal activity, forgery and fraud, theft, and illicit trafficking.
Today, the art and cultural heritage worlds are experiencing regulatory turbulence. U.S. cultural institutions are losing vital funding because of government funding cuts. Museums and cultural institutions are criticized for a lack of transparency, and high-profile restitution and repatriation cases have put the need for accurate and high-quality provenance research in the spotlight. Meanwhile, cyber threats are now targeting museum systems, art databases, and commercial actors, adding another layer of vulnerability.
Despite these challenges, people and institutions continue to engage with art for its multidimensional values and meanings, and it will continue to endure. But creating a risk management strategy for protecting high-value art and cultural property is now more important than ever and deserves the same level of scrutiny and protection as other high-value and sensitive markets.
That’s why we formed The ArtRisk Group, a strategic risk advisory and investigative firm dedicated to the areas of art, antiquities, cultural property, and high-value collectibles.
After years of working together and separately for decades on art crime cases and investigations spanning a wide range of art-related issues, we recognized a major gap in the market – the need for specialized, trustworthy expertise that understands both the art and provenance worlds, the legal landscape, and the investigative and security perspective.
My partners are world-class experts:
Jim Wynne, a former special agent who spent over 30 years with the FBI’s Major Theft Squad and was a charter member of the FBI’s National Art Crime Team.
Jordan Arnold, a former prosecutor with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and consulting firm executive, with deep public and private sector experience in solving thefts, unwinding frauds, and addressing security risks in the art market.
Victoria Sears Goldman, a provenance researcher with a PhD in art history, over a decade of experience conducting provenance research – including at the Cleveland Museum of Art – and who served as an expert witness in the high-profile Knoedler trial.
The ArtRisk Group doesn’t just offer top-tier services from a distinguished and experienced team. Our work for clients is informed by our unique, specialized knowledge and collective decades of handling issues specific to art and cultural heritage. If you’re navigating a complex art transaction and have doubts or questions, facing a potential title dispute, or simply want to ensure your purchase, sale, collection is secure and in the right hands, we can help.
While the art world is evolving, the need to protect your art is constant. Whatever hat you wear, this is your investment, your collection, and your heritage – and it should always be properly secured.
About Jane Levine
Partner and co-founder JANE LEVINE has extensive experience at the intersection of the international art market, art crime, and regulatory compliance. Jane is a former federal prosecutor who spent ten years as an Assistant US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, followed by a thirteen-year stint at Sotheby’s as Chief Global Compliance Counsel and Head of Government Affairs. Jane was appointed by President Obama to serve on the Cultural Property Advisory Committee, and currently serves as a member of the Board for US Committee for the Blue Shield working to safeguard cultural heritage around the globe. In addition, Jane has been teaching Art and Cultural Heritage Law at Columbia Law School for the past twenty years. Read more about Jane’s career here.