LOS ANGELES - A valuable art collection, including several works by Van Gogh and Jackson Pollock, was spirited away from a cliff-top mansion in California by robbers who disappeared without a trace.
Yesterday, police claimed that the perfect crime was an imperfect scam.
Officers investigating the US$80 million ($108 million) heist, one of the biggest art thefts in history, said that they believed it had been staged as part of an elaborate insurance fraud.
The local sheriff's office said their only suspects were the two men who had alleged they were victims.
Two weeks ago, Ralph Kennaugh, a former Harvard professor, and Angelo Amadio, a lawyer, said their home had been raided. Robbers had left a ransom note. But police did not find evidence of a break-in.
There were no fingerprints and no hint of intruders on the security video.
Amadio accused detectives of having "botched the investigation" into the case.
- INDEPENDENT
Art 'victims' accused of fraud
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