Sabine Coll Boghici grew up, but perhaps didn’t grow out of the habit of fooling a parent. Kids prank their dads and moms for sweet treats, get out of chores, and escape punishment. The Brazilian woman allegedly swindled a painting worth nearly $60 million from her 82-year-old mother. It wasn’t a direct, ‘I’m borrowing this expensive artwork without your permission, situation,’ but a much-dramatized taking-of-things complete with hiring a psychic to the twisted plot. Boghici’s father was an art collector. She ticked her mother, Genevieve Boghici, into handing over Sol Poente (1949) by Tarsila do Amaral by using a psychic to pretend it was cursed. The fortune-teller convinced the octogenarian mother that her daughter was becoming ill and needed ‘spiritual treatment’ owing to the painting.’
At any age, a mother doesn’t stop caring, which resulted in the famous artwork worth $58 million (previously exhibited at New York’s Museum of Modern Art) landing in Boghici’s hoodwinked hands. The tragedy extended with the daughter and her abettors mistreating the victim, keeping her at home for months.
As per Rio de Janeiro police officer Gilberto Ribeiro, the accomplice posing as a psychic took the artwork from the mother’s house, claiming that it needed to be prayed over. Unilad reported, “They took 16 paintings,” police officer Gilberto Ribeiro told Reuters – including works by renowned Brazilian artists. “We concluded in the preliminary check that all the characteristics of the seized paintings are compatible with the authentic paintings,” another officer added.
Three pieces from Tarsila do Amaral were also stolen, which the police valued at nearly $138 million. According to police and local media, the scam began in 2020 with seven people suspected of involvement in the years-long crime and face charges of embezzlement, robbery, extortion, false imprisonment, and criminal association, Reuters reported. The iconic Sol Poente was found under one of the suspect’s beds, like a rotting piece of candy hidden by an immature child.
