Gallery Sues on FBI Probe

Works by a French impressionist who paints under the name of Paul Valere regularly sell from $4,000 to $24,000 at the Simic Gallery in Carmel. But gallery owners say FBI agents are falsely claiming that Valere does not exist. Gallery officials concede Paul Valere is a pseudonym, but they say his works are produced by a real artist--a French impressionist who wants to conceal his identity. The gallery has filed suit in federal court charging that agents are destroying its reputation while conducting a “reckless” theft investigation. The gallery exclusively sells about 90 Valere paintings a year. “We want the FBI to start treating us like the victims we are,” gallery attorney Philip Daunt said. The gallery’s suit protests the FBI’s investigation of a $160,000 theft of four oil paintings by French impressionist Edouard Cortes in a January break-in.