The Los Angeles Times reports today that Jonathan Petropoulos has resigned as director of Claremont McKenna College's Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights in the wake of a controversy relating to attempts to recover a multimillion-dollar Pisarro painting. "The woman Petropoulos says he was trying to help [recover the painting] has accused him and a German associate of trying to extort 18% of the painting's market value as payment for shepherding its return."
Thanks to Terry Martin for the tip.
UPDATE: More from Derek Fincham: "The ultimate issue I suppose is what kind of compensation these kinds of experts can and should claim. The lawyers involved, and the Art Loss Register all take a healthy commission; and Petropolous certainly seems to have been amply compensated for his time at $350/hour."
