'Flor B. allegedly bought stolen Frans Hals' (UPDATE2)

The Belgian Flor B., who is being prosecuted for large-scale cocaine trafficking, may have had the painting “Two Laughing Boys” by Frans Hals in his hands, which was stolen in Leerdam. According to the Gazet van Antwerpen, this can be deduced from messages intercepted by the Belgian police that B. is said to have sent.

Leerdam
The painting was stolen in 2020 from the Hofje museum of Mrs. Van Aerden in Leerdam. Two weeks later, a number of messages were sent that the police believed were about that painting by Frans Hals.

'I recently bought a Frans Hals, 2 laughing boys' (…) 'Paid dearly, brother. (…) Asked for 750, settled for 550, brother.'

Other reports indicate that this person wanted to use the artwork (worth roughly €15 million) to 'buy the freedom' of his girlfriend in Switzerland.

Through his Dutch lawyer Yehudi Moszkowicz, Flor B. denies being the one who sent these messages. For the robbery in Leerdam and a similar robbery in Laren, Nils B. was sentenced to eight years in prison in 2021.

Kriva Rochem
B. is on trial in Belgium this year in a major trial concerning the Kriva Rochem company. Flor B. and others are said to have hidden tons of cocaine in shipments of manganese ore from Brazil from that Antwerp company.

Flor B.'s girlfriend was held in Switzerland for three quarters of a year, where she was also prosecuted for money laundering. She and B. are said to have had an exorbitant spending pattern in Switzerland over a period of two years, spending 2.5 million euros on luxury accommodation, food and drink and expensive items. This woman is now also one of the suspects in the Kriva Rochem case.

Whether the Belgian police also have evidence that B. actually had the painting in his possession or used it in negotiations is not clear. The canvas is still missing.

B. was arrested in February 2022 in Switzerland, where he was living in hiding with his Dutch girlfriend in a luxury apartment in Zurich. Both have now been extradited to Belgium.

https://www.crimesite.nl/flor-b-zou-gestolen-frans-hals-hebben-gekocht/