Bloomberg’s Karin Matussek is reporting that the Swiss government has seized some of the paintings that the US department of Justice is seeking in a civil suit:

Swiss authorities seized paintings by Claude Monet and Vincent Van Gogh as part of a U.S. probe into money- laundering and misappropriation involving the Malaysian development fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd.

The U.S. sent a request on Wednesday to confiscate several artworks and Swiss authorities issued a seizure order the same day. Van Gogh’s painting “La Maison de Vincent à Arles” was seized alongside Monet’s “Saint-Georges Majeur” and “Nympheas avec Reflets de Hautes Herbes,” Ingrid Ryser, a spokeswoman for the Federal Office of Justice, said in an e-mail on Thursday. “The operation is still ongoing,” Ryser said.

Reuters has a similar report:

Swiss authorities said on Thursday that, acting on a U.S. request, they had seized three valuable paintings, by Vincent van Gogh and Claude Monet, connected to the 1MDB inquiry. A Swiss Federal Office of Justice spokeswoman said, “The operation is not over yet so we will not comment at the moment on the location of the paintings.”

U.S. lawsuits link Malaysian leader to stolen money from 1MDB fund  (Reuters)