An Argentine court charged the daughter of a Nazi financier with the crime of aggravated cover-up for allegedly trying to hide the painting “Portrait of a Lady,” stolen from a Jewish gallery owner during World War II.

During a hearing in Mar del Plata, where the couple lives, federal prosecutor Carlos Martínez also requested the work be sent to the Holocaust Museum in Buenos Aires.

Martínez also forbade Patricia Kadgien and her husband, Juan Carlos Cortegoso, from leaving the country and their home for more than 24 hours without prior authorization for the 180-day period in which the investigation will be conducted. He also requested that their house arrest, which started on Monday, be lifted.

Patricia Kadgien, daughter of Nazi lawyer and businessman Friedrich Kadgien, turned in the artwork over to the authorities on Wednesday, a little over a week after journalists spotted it in a real estate listing.

“The cover-up charge here must be understood as related to the crime of genocide,” Martínez said during the hearing. “Theft in the context of genocide. It is linked to the most serious crimes known to humanity.”

The investigation

“Portrait of a Lady,” a long-lost painting by Italian artist Giuseppe Ghislandi, was stolen from its original Amsterdam-based owner, art dealer Jacques Goudstikker, during World War II. The painting’s last known whereabouts were in Switzerland in 1946 in the hands of Kadgien, who fled Germany and ultimately settled in Argentina.

A group of Dutch journalists, who had been trying to contact the Kadgiens for years in search of the painting, stumbled upon a photo of the artwork hanging in the living room of one of the family’s properties, listed on a realtor’s website. The photo has since been taken down.

Authorities raided the couple’s house twice but did not find the artwork there. Kagdien handed over the painting after a failed attempt to transfer the judicial investigation to civil courts.

Kadgien’s family is now being investigated after apparently attempting to hide the painting. When investigators arrived at the property, a horse tapestry had been hung in the place where the painting appeared in the image, but there were marks on the walls and a hook that could have been used to hang a painting.

Police carried out four simultaneous raids in Mar del Plata on Monday. The couple was placed under house arrest for 72 hours, waiting for a hearing. 

During the operation, investigators seized two paintings, which, according to visual arts experts, could date from the 1800s. Several drawings and engravings were also found. These works will be analyzed to determine whether they are connected to pieces stolen during the Second World War.