Super rich person really wants that particular painting to hang in a private room where they can enjoy it.
And they go through a couple connections for plausible deniability -- buying it from some kind of "dealer" they can "assume" is "legit", and the "dealer" then connects with actual criminals to steal it.
If ever caught (unlikely), the thieves and "dealer" take the fall, not the rich person. Also the rich person may be halfway around the world in a country where there's literally zero chance of being caught/extradited.
But the thieves and dealer are going to make a helluva lot of money, obviously, for the risk they're taking.
Super rich person really wants that particular painting to hang in a private room where they can enjoy it.
And they go through a couple connections for plausible deniability -- buying it from some kind of "dealer" they can "assume" is "legit", and the "dealer" then connects with actual criminals to steal it.
If ever caught (unlikely), the thieves and "dealer" take the fall, not the rich person. Also the rich person may be halfway around the world in a country where there's literally zero chance of being caught/extradited.
But the thieves and dealer are going to make a helluva lot of money, obviously, for the risk they're taking.