Mark Meng has been sentenced to 46 months in federal prison for posing as an instrument collector, stealing violins and bows from shops around the US in a theft scheme between August 2020 and April 2023
In 2024, a California man was accused in a federal criminal complaint of stealing valuable violins worth more than a combined $300,000 from shops across the US, as well as robbing an Irvine bank.
Mark Meng, 58, of Irvine, Orange County, CA, was sentenced this week to 46 months in federal prison. He pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of bank robbery in September 2024.
In a theft scheme that occurred between August 2020 and April 2023, Meng presented himself as an instrument collector, stealing violins and bows from violin shops around the US.
Prosecutors said that Meng persuaded music stores to lend him violins on a trial basis. After receiving the violins, he would send the stores cheques that would bounce, ask for trial extensions, or insist that the instruments had been sent back but had been lost in transit. Meng kept the instruments and eventually sold them to a violin dealer in Los Angeles, who was unaware of the scheme.
Meng was additionally charged with robbing a US Bank branch in April 2024.
The violins that were stolen included:
- a Lorenzo Ventapane violin, dated 1823, and valued at $175,000;
- a Giulio Degani violin, dated 1903, and valued at $55,000;
- a Caressa & Français violin, dated 1913, and valued at $40,000;
- a Gand & Bernardel violin, dated 1870, and valued at $60,000;
- and a Français Lotte violin bow, stamped ’Lupot,’ and valued at $7,500.
The thefts caught the attention of the FBI’s Art Crime Team, which investigated the case with assistance from local authorities. Meng will face a restitution hearing in June 2025.
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