Rio de Janeiro police recover £120.6m in art stolen via psychic scam involving daughter

An 82-year-old widow of a Brazilian gallerist was defrauded of R$750 million (£120.6m) in art by her daughter and accomplices, with Rio de Janeiro police arresting four individuals. The daughter allegedly hired a woman posing as a psychic to approach her mother on the street, claiming the daughter would soon die unless spiritual services were enlisted. This scheme was reinforced by a fake fortune teller and a mãe-de-santo, an Afro-Brazilian priestess, who convinced the mother to pay large sums for prayers and advice. To maintain the deception, domestic staff were dismissed and the mother was confined to her home, with threats including a knife used to coerce continued payments. Police recovered stolen artworks, including three by Tarsila do Amaral, one by Di Cavalcanti, and one by Antonio Dias, found hidden under a bed in Rio's south zone. Some of the sixteen stolen pieces had already been sold through an unnamed São Paulo gallery, with two purchased by the Museum of Latin American Art of Buenos Aires, which have since been returned. The gallery dealer denied awareness of the fraudulent origins. Dubbed Operation Sol Poente after do Amaral's 1929 painting, the investigation highlights a complex fraud case in Brazil's art market.