Law, crime and regulation

Legal cases, stolen art, regulation and tax issues remain important part of the art and antiques sector.

This category ranges from the levy of the Artist’s Resale Right to controversies over fakes and forgeries.


Anti-money laundering

New guidance published for latest anti-money laundering rules

14 July 2026

Last month The Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) Regulations 2026 came into force, updating the 2017 rules.

Lalique Museum

Plea for the return of 27 jewels stolen from The Lalique Museum in France

09 July 2026

Thieves broke into The Lalique Museum in the early hours of July 5 and stole 27 items of jewellery valued in the region of €4.5m.

Hand axe

Plea to UK museums to raise funds to keep Palaeolithic handaxes in the country

07 July 2026

Two 500,000-year-old flint handaxes discovered in Norfolk have been blocked from export in the hope a UK institution can raise the funds to keep them in the country.

Rena Neville, head of art division at FCS Compliance.

Latest anti-money laundering regulations: new amendments issued, guidance to come

26 June 2026

New UK anti-money laundering rules coming into force are set to affect auction houses, dealerships, art advisers and other art market participants.

News in brief including a coin dealership winning a High Court case against former staff members

26 June 2026

A round-up of art and antiques news from the previous seven days, including a judge's ruling in a case over staff accessing customer data and contact details ahead of joining a rival firm

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)

Dealers lose Ivory Act exemption appeals in a ‘laborious and very costly’ process

19 June 2026

The impact of the Ivory Act continues to be felt across the antiques trade as another dealer lost an appeal against the government this month.

A Spanish Forger fake

Fake and fortune: Manuscripts by The Spanish Forger emerge in Dorset

19 June 2026

Two medieval illuminated manuscripts identified as being late 19th century or early 20th century fakes attributed to The Spanish Forger are being sold in Dorset on June 25 estimated at £500-1000.

Tim Maxwell of Wedlake Bell.

Tribunal decision acts as ‘sombre reminder’ of how difficult it is for the trade to challenge Ivory Act exemption refusals on appeal

19 June 2026

Tim Maxwell, partner in art and luxury law, and Matthew Shore, barrister specialising in litigation in art and luxury law, both at Wedlake Bell, give their expert view on a recent case

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A lawyer writes: The three-year window – how some items can escape EU import rules

12 June 2026

Among the labyrinthine difficulties and uncertainties contained in Regulation (EU 2019/880 ), ‘the Import Regulation’, there is one small but important window of optimism.

Georg Kolbe fountain

Restituted Georg Kolbe fountain quadruples estimate

11 June 2026

In November sale last year, Grisebach in Berlin set a new record for a bronze sculpture by Georg Kolbe, when it sold Stehende Frau (Standing Woman) for €1.12m (£982,455).

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Fire safety rule change set to make furniture sales easier

29 May 2026

Government plans for new fire safety regulations could simplify the rules for the resale of second-hand and vintage upholstered furniture in the UK.

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Cotswolds firm Trinity House Paintings placed in compulsory liquidation

29 May 2026

Art dealership Trinity House Paintings has been placed in compulsory liquidation. It went into administration with significant debts in 2023 and that period ended on May 1.

The Red House Antiques Centre

Police appeal following jewellery theft at antiques centre in York

26 May 2026

North Yorkshire Police has issued a plea for information following the theft of antique and vintage jewellery from an antiques centre in York.

Stone sculptures

Sculpture fraudster sentenced after Metropolitan Police investigation

22 May 2026

A fraudster who tried to sell stone sculptures with false provenance through Sotheby’s has been sentenced after a three-and-a-half year investigation by the Met Police’s Art and Antiques Unit.

HMRC training video

HMRC launches ‘practical, engaging tool’ to help understand anti-money laundering rules

22 May 2026

New training videos to help auction houses and dealers deal with anti-money laundering regulations have been published by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

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The interior design loophole: a regulatory wake-up call

22 May 2026

Summary of a panel discussion on the opening day of The Decorative Fair that was moderated by Freya Simms. Compliance expert Rakhi Talwar was in conversation with Toby Lorford, founder of Lorfords Antiques, and Lucy Sear Barlow of interior design firm Barlow & Barlow

Keats' love letters

Keats’ love letters returned to family after theft now come to auction

12 May 2026

A rare group of eight autograph letters by John Keats (1795-1821) to his fiancée Fanny Brawne that had been stolen in 1989 but later recovered are now heading to Sotheby's.

Anti-money laundering rules

Anti-money laundering rule change welcomed as a time saver

01 May 2026

The threshold of qualifying transactions for artworks under UK anti-money laundering rules will change from Euros to British pounds.

Lord Harley’s Bloody Shouldered Arabian 

Newmarket museum acquires three large equine portraits via tax scheme

29 April 2026

Three large horse portraits by the British artist John Wootton (1682-1764) will be on display at The National Horseracing Museum in Newmarket following an allocation from Arts Council’s Acceptance in Lieu scheme.

1812 Imperial Almanac

Stolen books and letters valued at more than $3m recovered after 35 years thanks to book dealers

24 April 2026

A group of rare books and a bound collection of 37 love letters written by the Romantic poet John Keats to his fiancée Fanny Brawne have been recovered and returned to the family.

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