Jane A. 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 where she conducted numerous jury trials and appeals, served as Special Trial Counsel to the FBI Art Crime Team, and prosecuted large economic crimes. Highlights of her time as a federal prosecutor include the recovery and return of a Jacopo de’ Barbari masterpiece stolen from a German castle post-WWII, the conviction of the ringleader in international forgery scheme involving hundreds of forged Impressionist paintings, and the first conviction in an internet art fraud/forgery scheme with dozens of victims.

After leaving the SDNY, Jane moved into the commercial art world at Sotheby’s where she spent thirteen years holding responsibilities as Chief Global Compliance Counsel and Head of Government Affairs. As a member of the Sotheby’s Executive Management team Jane provided leadership and oversight in the formation and expansion of a world class Compliance and Ethics department covering offices located in forty different countries. Under Jane’s leadership Sotheby’s adopted a comprehensive global compliance program that successfully protected the company and its employees from adverse consequences of all kinds. Jane was also responsible for managing risk and conducting internal investigations related to conflicts of interest, market and auction conduct, money laundering, fraud, forgery, cultural heritage claims, and title disputes, among others.

Jane was appointed by President Obama to serve on the Cultural Property Advisory Committee, which makes recommendations concerning cultural property agreements between the United States and other State parties to the 1970 UNESCO Convention. She currently serves as a member and officer of the Board for U.S. Committee of the Blue Shield a non-profit organization dedicated to preventing the destruction, damage and theft of cultural heritage during armed conflict and natural disasters. Jane has taught Art and Cultural Heritage Law at Columbia Law School for the past several decades and is frequently invited to speak as an authority on art law and cultural heritage panels and conferences. She is a former member of the Advisory Board for NYU Law School’s Program on Corporate Compliance and Enforcement.