The trial began yesterday in the case against Robert Mardirosian, a retired lawyer accused of trying to sell seven paintings stolen from the home of Michael Bakwin in 1978, the Associated Press reports.

Mardirosian faces federal charges of possessing and transporting stolen goods. Prosecutor Jonathan Mitchell alleges that Mardirosian knew the paintings — including the $29.3 million Bouilloire et Fruits by Cezanne — were stolen, and that he repeatedly tried to make money on them over 30 years. He first tried to collect a reward, then insurance money, and finally attempted to negotiate a deal to return the Cezanne painting, the most valuable, in exchange for title to the other six, Mitchell says.

Defense attorney Brian Fitzsimmons claims that Mardirosian was simply trying to return the paintings — which he says ended up in his possession via a former client of his, David Colvin — and collect a finder's fee. "He took the view that a finder's fee was the usual and standard practice," Fitzsimmons said.

The seven paintings were stolen from Bakwin's home over Memorial Day weekend in 1978. Colvin, the presumed thief, was murdered in 1979 over a gambling debt; Mardirosian moved the works to Monaco in 1988 and later to a bank in Geneva.

In 1999, the Art Loss Register contacted Bakwin, saying that Lloyd's of London had been contacted by someone inquiring about insuring the paintings before sale. The register helped determine that the paintings were being offered up for sale by a Panamanian corporation called Erie International Trading Co., which was later found to be registered in Mardirosian's name.

Bakwin struck a deal with Erie that the Cezanne would be returned in exchange for the other six paintings. Bakwin sold the Cezanne at Sotheby's two months after getting it back and, considering the deal "extortion," never turned over the titles to the other works.

In 2005, Mardirosian tried to sell four of the paintings at Sotheby's, but Bakwin stopped the auction by suing in a London court. Mardirosian was arrested in February 2007.