Secret Investigators Examined Leader of Getty Trust

Investigators hired by the board at the J. Paul Getty Trust copied the computer hard drives of that organization’s chief executive in an effort to determine how senior officials spent its money and acquired looted antiquities, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Three months before Barry Munitz, the organization’s chief executive, resigned in February, his top aides and the board chairman of the nonprofit organization assisted private investigators from a local law firm in gathering documents about his actions.

Among the findings were that Mr. Munitz spent Getty money to advance the career of a German art student he hired as a “senior adviser.” He was also linked to a Russian researcher whose museum received a Getty grant.

Mr. Munitz, through his lawyer, said he served as a mentor to both women and his professional relationship to them had nothing to do with his resignation; the Getty Trust declined to say whether the expenditures were appropriate.

The law firm investigating Munitz charged the Getty Trust $4-million for its work.