Ronnie Walker
@artcrimeguy.bsky.social
Retired FBI Art Crime Team, Art Legacy Institute Board Member
Pinned
Ronnie Walker
@artcrimeguy.bsky.social
· Jul 29
He went undercover to catch art thieves. Now he’s using tech to stop forgeries
After decades with the FBI’s Art Crime Team, Ronnie Walker launched the Art Legacy Institute to protect artists before their work gets forged or stolen, rather than after.
www.fastcompany.com
I spent 20 years chasing art criminals with the FBI Art Crime Team.
We were always showing up after the damage was done. So we started something new for artists.
If you care about art, artists, and the weird world of art crime—I’d love to hear what you think.
www.fastcompany.com/91364175/ron...
We were always showing up after the damage was done. So we started something new for artists.
If you care about art, artists, and the weird world of art crime—I’d love to hear what you think.
www.fastcompany.com/91364175/ron...
My years undercover taught me one thing: forgery isn’t clever. It’s corrosive. As New York Times reporter Ephrat Livni detailed this week, the Tokushima Modern Art Museum in Japan confirmed that a painting long believed to be by Jean Metzinger was in fact a forgery.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/28/w...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/28/w...
Aftershocks of an Art Crime Reverberate in Japan
www.nytimes.com
November 29, 2025 at 12:09 AM
My years undercover taught me one thing: forgery isn’t clever. It’s corrosive. As New York Times reporter Ephrat Livni detailed this week, the Tokushima Modern Art Museum in Japan confirmed that a painting long believed to be by Jean Metzinger was in fact a forgery.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/28/w...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/28/w...
Ever gone undercover to recover Dorothy’s ruby slippers?
I have. On Art in Brief, Dave Bass and I talk with Paris Sistilli and Andrea Konigs about FBI stings, high-end art forgery, and why we started @artlegacyinstitute.bsky.social to protect artists and their work.
itsartlaw.org/podcast-art-...
I have. On Art in Brief, Dave Bass and I talk with Paris Sistilli and Andrea Konigs about FBI stings, high-end art forgery, and why we started @artlegacyinstitute.bsky.social to protect artists and their work.
itsartlaw.org/podcast-art-...
August 1, 2025 at 6:55 PM
Ever gone undercover to recover Dorothy’s ruby slippers?
I have. On Art in Brief, Dave Bass and I talk with Paris Sistilli and Andrea Konigs about FBI stings, high-end art forgery, and why we started @artlegacyinstitute.bsky.social to protect artists and their work.
itsartlaw.org/podcast-art-...
I have. On Art in Brief, Dave Bass and I talk with Paris Sistilli and Andrea Konigs about FBI stings, high-end art forgery, and why we started @artlegacyinstitute.bsky.social to protect artists and their work.
itsartlaw.org/podcast-art-...
I spent 20 years chasing art criminals with the FBI Art Crime Team.
We were always showing up after the damage was done. So we started something new for artists.
If you care about art, artists, and the weird world of art crime—I’d love to hear what you think.
www.fastcompany.com/91364175/ron...
We were always showing up after the damage was done. So we started something new for artists.
If you care about art, artists, and the weird world of art crime—I’d love to hear what you think.
www.fastcompany.com/91364175/ron...
He went undercover to catch art thieves. Now he’s using tech to stop forgeries
After decades with the FBI’s Art Crime Team, Ronnie Walker launched the Art Legacy Institute to protect artists before their work gets forged or stolen, rather than after.
www.fastcompany.com
July 29, 2025 at 8:37 PM
I spent 20 years chasing art criminals with the FBI Art Crime Team.
We were always showing up after the damage was done. So we started something new for artists.
If you care about art, artists, and the weird world of art crime—I’d love to hear what you think.
www.fastcompany.com/91364175/ron...
We were always showing up after the damage was done. So we started something new for artists.
If you care about art, artists, and the weird world of art crime—I’d love to hear what you think.
www.fastcompany.com/91364175/ron...
Major art heist update out of France: 11 paintings worth over €3M—including Bernard Buffet's iconic Clown—were stolen from a private collector in Gers back in December. A violent home invasion shocked the quiet town of Condom.
www.ladepeche.fr/2025/07/04/i...
www.ladepeche.fr/2025/07/04/i...
INFO LA DÉPÊCHE. Des tableaux de Bernard Buffet volés : le butin de 3 millions d’euros retrouvé
Six mois après un cambriolage audacieux chez un collectionneur d’art à Condom (Gers), six suspects ont été interpellés du côté de Marseille dans les Bouches-du-Rhône.
www.ladepeche.fr
July 8, 2025 at 3:24 PM
Major art heist update out of France: 11 paintings worth over €3M—including Bernard Buffet's iconic Clown—were stolen from a private collector in Gers back in December. A violent home invasion shocked the quiet town of Condom.
www.ladepeche.fr/2025/07/04/i...
www.ladepeche.fr/2025/07/04/i...
Really enjoyed this piece. Great job @foxcahn.bsky.social
I've done some amazing stunts over the years, but this has to be my most ridiculous. Not only did I spend months forging an Ai WeiWei artwork because I thought the gallery selling it was being obnoxious, but i actually got to interview WeiWei about my stunt.🙃🤯
I adored a piece of art that cost $280,000. So I decided to forge it.
Ai Weiwei made a piece of art out of plastic bricks that cost as much as a house. I replicated it for $250.
www.businessinsider.com
June 13, 2025 at 3:23 PM
Really enjoyed this piece. Great job @foxcahn.bsky.social
Big news in the art world: A 77-year-old from Reading, PA, just pleaded guilty to a major art fraud scheme, selling fake works he claimed were by icons like Picasso, Warhol, and Basquiat. 🖼️
www.justice.gov/usao-edpa/pr...
www.justice.gov/usao-edpa/pr...
Berks County Man Pleads Guilty to Art Fraud Scheme, Admits Selling Counterfeit Artworks to Customers
www.justice.gov
May 31, 2025 at 12:58 AM
Big news in the art world: A 77-year-old from Reading, PA, just pleaded guilty to a major art fraud scheme, selling fake works he claimed were by icons like Picasso, Warhol, and Basquiat. 🖼️
www.justice.gov/usao-edpa/pr...
www.justice.gov/usao-edpa/pr...
After being lost for four decades it is thrilling to see this beautiful artwork returned to the Harwood Museum of Art in Taos, New Mexico. Great job by everyone involved.
artdaily.com/news/182142/...
artdaily.com/news/182142/...
FBI returns stolen paintings to UNM's Harwood Museum of Art and Taos Community 40 years after art heist
It has been a nearly forgotten, 40-year circuitous path for two brazenly stolen paintings to find their way back to gallery walls at Harwood Museum of
artdaily.com
May 24, 2025 at 3:08 PM
After being lost for four decades it is thrilling to see this beautiful artwork returned to the Harwood Museum of Art in Taos, New Mexico. Great job by everyone involved.
artdaily.com/news/182142/...
artdaily.com/news/182142/...
During my time with the FBI Art Crime Team, we always aimed to make a lasting impact. At ALI, we are setting out to achieve something that’s never been done before — work that I’m confident will benefit generations of artists and their families.
www.cnn.com/2025/04/27/s...
www.cnn.com/2025/04/27/s...
Forgers and fraudsters trusted him for decades — but he was an undercover FBI art detective | CNN
A founding member of the FBI’s Art Crime Team, Ronnie Walker’s elaborate sting operations often saw him posing as a dealer, authenticator or buyer of stolen paintings.
www.cnn.com
April 27, 2025 at 8:08 PM
During my time with the FBI Art Crime Team, we always aimed to make a lasting impact. At ALI, we are setting out to achieve something that’s never been done before — work that I’m confident will benefit generations of artists and their families.
www.cnn.com/2025/04/27/s...
www.cnn.com/2025/04/27/s...
Reposted by Ronnie Walker
Anthropometry (ANT 132), by Yves Klein, 1950, 📸 by @AlexSlitzPhoto
April 6, 2025 at 1:07 AM
Anthropometry (ANT 132), by Yves Klein, 1950, 📸 by @AlexSlitzPhoto
"The Grave Robber" by retired FBI Agent and former head of the Art Crime Team, Tim Carpenter.
Don't miss this book. Coming out October 14, 2025.
Don't miss this book. Coming out October 14, 2025.
April 5, 2025 at 2:09 AM
"The Grave Robber" by retired FBI Agent and former head of the Art Crime Team, Tim Carpenter.
Don't miss this book. Coming out October 14, 2025.
Don't miss this book. Coming out October 14, 2025.