/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/45351512/2013_02_dali-moncler-theft-2.jpg.0.jpg)
Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for The Goods by Vox. You can also see what we’re up to by signing up here.
Moncler publicist Phivos Lampros Istavrioglou was arrested by the NYPD this Saturday at JFK International Airport. The crime? Last year, he stole a $150,000 Salvador Dalí painting from Venus Over Manhattan, a Madison Avenue art gallery. And it gets better. The Post reports that Istavrioglou, 29, "was initially held on a bench warrant for allegedly separately swiping a steak from a Whole Foods in Tribeca last Jan. 9."
In case you missed it, here's how Istavrioglou swindled the gallery: "He snatched the Dali painting off a wall in the exhibition area, dropped it inside a shopping bag and strolled out of the gallery." Just like that. Afterwards, he mailed it back to them to point out the "lapse in security at the gallery." No word on why he stole the steak, but it was probably just because he was hungry.
· Fashion big busted in Dali painting theft [NYP]