Bangkok University art historian facing fraud charges dies in detention in US

A well-known art historian, arrested in Los Angeles in connection with a federal investigation into illegal trafficking of pilfered Southeast Asian art, died early Wednesday of a heart attack at a Federal Detention Centre. Roxanna Brown, 62, wheelchair-bound was suffering from flulike symptoms severe enough to postpone her initial court appearance. She was indicted on a single count of wire fraud for allegedly allowing her electronic signature to be used on appraisal forms of items donated to museums. These appraisals were allegedly inflated so that the donors could claim fraudulent tax deductions. According to an affidavit, the owners of an art gallery helped an undercover agent obtain an appraisal with Brown's signature of just around $5,000 for several items an undercover agent has purchased for only $1,500 cash. Brown was director of the Southeast Asian Ceramics Museum at Bangkok University in Thailand. She became interested in Asian art as a journalist during the Vietnam War and later became a leading authority on the ancient-ceramics trade in Southeast Asia.