Accused for stealing a Venezuela-owned Matisse painting plead guilty

The Hispanic couple accused of attempt at selling the painting "Odalisque in Red Pants" by French painter Henri Matisse, plead guilty at a Miami federal court. The work had been stolen from a Venezuelan museum in 2002.

Based on the files in the US court e-system Cuban Pedro Antonio Marcuello Guzmán and Mexican María Martha Elisa Ornelas Lazo will learn their sentences next January 22.

In a hearing held on Tuesday, both defendants rectified their plea of not guilty of last August and face penalties of up to 10 years imprisonment.

Both of them are accused of transfer and possession of stolen property and scheming to sell it. Earlier, they had tried to sell the painting to FBI undercover agents last July 17.

The painting, worth USD 3 million, was stolen from the Caracas Museum of Modern Art (MACC) and replaced with a falsification, according to the court files.