Missing $8M Basquiat Art Reappears in UES Warehouse

Hannibal rising! An $8 million painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat, called Hannibal, has been located in a Manhattan warehouse after apparently being smuggled out of Brazil, federal prosecutors told the Associated Press yesterday. The painting's last known owner was Edemar Cid Ferreira, the former owner of Banco Santos and one of Brazil's major art collectors. His bank went bankrupt in September 2005, and Mr. Ferreira was convicted in Brazil of money laundering and bank fraud. He was ordered to begin serving a 21-year sentence in December 2006 and a Brazilian court ordered the seizure of $20 million to $30 million worth of art, saying Ferreira and his relatives and associates had bought the works with proceeds of illegal schemes. A courier brought the painting from London to JFK airport, valuing the painting at $100 in claims. The piece was found in an Upper East Side warehouse in November. Prosecutors filed papers yesterday seeking to seize the 1982 painting to help Brazilian authorities claim it.