Geneva prosecutors investigate case of Modigliani painting

GENEVA – Based on the Panama Papers revelations, Geneva prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation linked to an Amedeo Modigliani painting allegedly looted from a Jewish art dealer during World War II.

Prosecutor’s office spokesman Henri Della Casa said Monday that the painting was confiscated last week at special tax zones known as the Geneva free ports. He declined to comment further.

Founder James Palmer of Mondex Corp., a Toronto firm that tracks despoiled artworks, says the Nazis stole the 1918 painting, “Seated Man with a Cane,” from collector Oscar Stettinger who fled Paris as the war began.

Palmer said the painting was estimated to be worth at least $25 million. It was sold at a London auction in 1996 to an offshore company reportedly created by the Mossack Fonseca law firm.