FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A French citizen living in Florida has been indicted in a stolen art smuggling scheme born from one of the most brazen art heists in modern history.

Bernard Ternus, 55, of Cooper City, Fla., was indicted Thursday on a charge of conspiracy to transfer stolen goods by trying to sell four stolen painting masterpieces for $4.7 million. The French citizen has been in a Miami federal detention facility since June 4, when immigration officials arrested him on charges he lied about his criminal history on a visa application.

That criminal history should have prevented him from even entering the country, immigration attorneys said.

Ternus’ attorney, Richard Birkenwald, declined to discuss the details of the art theft or the visa fraud case.

“I really have no comments to make at this time,” Birkenwald said. “We’re in the process of negotiating a plea in both cases.”

All four paintings – Claude Monet’s “Cliffs near Dieppe,” Alfred Sisley’s “Lane of Poplars near Moret” and Jan Brueghel the Elder’s “Allegory of Earth” and “Allegory of Water” – have been recovered.

The August 2007 theft shocked the art world with its audacity. Five men in jumpsuits with guns in broad daylight stormed the Musee des Beaux-Arts in Nice, France. Within 10 minutes, they made off with the four paintings and damaged a fifth they couldn’t carry. Museum officials at the time estimated their worth to be at least $1.55 million. Federal prosecutors declined to say whether Ternus was suspected in the robbery.

The paintings were created by true masters, Monet and Sisley being late 19th-century French Impressionists and Brueghel an early 17th-century Flemish artist.

A month before the theft, Ternus arrived at Miami International Airport with a valid work visa. According to a federal indictment, Ternus claimed in his visa application he had never been arrested or convicted of any crimes.

Customs officials later discovered Ternus had been arrested at least seven times in France since 1966 on charges including breaking and entering, theft, robbery, possessing stolen goods and assault with a deadly weapon, according to court records. The indictment said he was last convicted in 2006 on an assault charge.

Ternus’ name should have been run through law enforcement databases in the U.S. and France, said Jeff Devore, a Palm Beach Gardens immigration attorney. Most people with extensive criminal backgrounds are stopped, he said, but some make it through.

“Everybody who applies for a visa is supposed to have a personal interview and is supposed to have a background check,” said Devore.

Renata Calderaro, a Miami immigration attorney, said background checks are typically fast and easy, though some consular officials are more thorough than others.

“The question becomes does the consulate really review all the applications?” Calderaro said.

The U.S. State Department, which oversees consulates, declined to discuss Ternus’ case. It’s possible the French didn’t share information with the U.S. government, said Rob McInturff, a department spokesman.

No one from the U.S. Attorney’s Office or the State Department would talk about why it took nearly a year to arrest Ternus on the visa violation.

Federal prosecutors said Ternus and at least two other men worked for 10 months after the theft to try and sell the masterpieces on the black market. The indictment described meetings between Ternus, his partners and undercover FBI and French agents in Miami, Spain and France.

The deal: Four paintings for 3 million euros, or about $4.7 million.

On June 4, the same day Ternus was arrested for visa fraud, the undercover agents in France moved in. Officials said they arrested Ternus’ partners and recovered the paintings in Marseille, France.


Ternus has been in the U.S. for less than a year, living in a quiet Cooper City neighborhood. No one answered the door at his house on Friday and a sign out front said it was for rent. A man who answered a phone listed on the sign declined to give his name but said Ternus lived there with his wife and at least one child.

His neighbors said Ternus kept to himself, and none remembered having a conversation with him.

“I saw him riding his motorcycle a few times,” said Rick Lundell, 66, who lived across the street. “He just seemed like a normal guy.”

Ternus’ attorney, Birkenwald, said his client doesn’t speak English and court records show he has needed an interpreter in federal proceedings.

He’s next scheduled to appear in federal court for a hearing in the visa case July 10.

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(Staff writers Rachel Hatzipanagos and Emma Trelles and staff researcher William Lucey contributed to this report.

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(c) 2008, South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

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AP-NY-06-27-08 2107EDT