P - DX Burke

Question 1

Introduce yourself

Answer 1

Good X. My name is Shar Burke. I’m a special agent for the Art Crime Team at the FBI.

Question 2

Could you tell us more about your work at the FBI?

Answer 2

Of course. My job is to retrieve stolen art. Sounds simple, but art crimes aren’t your regular smash and grab robberies– I work with police departments, networks of informants, and a lot of tech personnel.

Question 3

Do you have any training in art crimes specifically?

Answer 3

Yes. I learned a lot when I first joined the team. First, they teach you how to crawl. You learn art vocabulary, history, styles, you know so you don’t embarrass yourself with the art professionals. Then you learn how to run. They train us in the business side: things like market trends, handling and authenticating art, and surfing the dark web.

Question 4

I wanna move on and talk about today’s case. Were you involved in the investigation of what happened on October 31st?

Answer 4

I was.

Question 5

How did you get involved?

Answer 5

On November 2nd my partner approached me with video footage of the Miller Tower robbery.

Question 6

Can you give us a high-level overview of what you watched in that footage?

Answer 6

Two words. Organized and violent. I watched three masked people break into Miller Tower from the roof, knock the security guard unconscious and use her biometrics to access the vault.

Question 7

What did they do in the vault?

Answer 7

They stole everything. There was millions of dollars worth of art in that vault.

Question 8

What did you do after watching the security video?

Answer 8

This was a massive art robbery, and given my line of work, I gave Santa Ivo PD a call, and offered to help out.

Question 9

How did the investigation begin?

Answer 9

The police and I worked side by side: I worked to find the stolen items, and they worked to find evidence from the scene. Our first break came when blood from Miller Tower matched a known felon. Memphis Raynes.

Question 10

What did you do when you had that match?

Answer 10

We put out an arrest warrant for Mx. Raynes. As the search for him/her went on, we called in their brother/sister Poe Cameron for any leads.

Question 11

Did you learn anything in the interview with the defendant?

Answer 11

Not much in the interview itself. Mx. Cameron denied knowing about the robbery at all, but we did get a DNA swab from him/her to crosscheck with the evidence.

Question 12

Were there any matches for the defendants DNA?

Answer 12

Yep, most notably on a mask we found. It was the same white clown mask I saw one of the robbers wearing in the security footage.

Question 13

Would you recognize that mask if I showed it to you in court today?

Answer 13

I would. (ex 23)

Question 14

Earlier you told us that it was your job to find the stolen art. Did you find it?

Answer 14

Yes. Eventually we found some of the items and a money trail to the people who we believe stole them.

Question 15

How did you start this process?

Answer 15

The FBI was able to buy some of these items back for around 5.8 million dollars. It was the first step in finding out who was behind this.

Question 16

What did you do once you bought those stolen paintings?

Answer 16

Essentially, we followed the money. Here, it gets a bit confusing so I brought along a visual to help us keep track.

Question 17

What are we looking at here?

Answer 17

This is a visual I made to keep track of the money as it flowed through various accounts.

Question 18

Where did you follow the money to?

Answer 18

The money, from the stolen paintings, first split into two accounts, 40 and 60%. We’re just going to focus on this part today, the 60% - that was what was important for my investigation.

Question 19

Where did you follow that 60% of the deal to?

Answer 19

We followed that 60% here, to a final account. This allowed us to get a warrant to seize that account and look into its transactions.

Question 20

What’d you learn from the warrant?

Answer 20

This account got that 60% cut, that’s 3.5 million dollars. We then saw that this account was making payments to a bank account. So we got a warrant to figure out who that belonged to.

Question 21

So the bank account you linked to the stolen paintings, who did it belong to?

Answer 21

The bank account was registered to a company called Bern-Steel Limited. We got another warrant and we got the names of the owners.

Question 22

Who were the owners?

Answer 22

Two names we’ve seen before. Memphis Raynes and the defendant, Poe Cameron.

Question 23

Let’s take a step back here Agent, what does all of this mean?

Answer 23

We were able to link money from the stolen paintings, to an account owned by Poe Cameron and Memphis Raynes. 60% of that deal went straight to their account.

Question 24

Did anyone ever take money out from that final bank account?

Answer 24

Yes, we know that several withdrawals were made from that account leading up to and after the heist.

Question 25

Did anything change about that after the defendant was arrested?

Answer 25

Cashouts stopped the day Poe Cameron was arrested.

Question 26

Did you find any evidence that the defendant needed money, before this robbery?

Answer 26

Potentially. When we searched Mx. Cameron’s house, we found a phone. It had some texts to Memphis Raynes expressing he/she needs money and wants in on a job.

Question 27

Would you recognize those text messages if I showed them to you in court today?

Answer 27

Yes

Question 28

Agent, where did the defendant say she needed money?

Answer 28

The first text there, at the top. Hey. That big job you mentioned. Any way I can still get in on that? I could use the money.

Question 29

Does either the defendant or Memphis Raynes mention any specifics about this robbery?

Answer 29

Yes. Ivy Lane, we found evidence the robbers were seen there. Helicopters, the robbers arrived at Miller Tower in a helicopter. A mask, they wore masks.

Question 30

Agent, I see some texts here, after the robbery in November. Does this date, November 21st have any significance?

Answer 30

Yes. Nov 21st was the day we brought Cameron in for his first interview. These texts were sent right after she left the police station.

Question 31

What does the defendant say to her sister after that interview with the police?

Answer 31

Ms. Cameron notified Memphis Raynes that the police brought her/him in. Cameron’s last text that day to her/his sister/brother were the words “I’ll come up with a story to make it all go away.”