In April 2024, Geoffrey Kelly retired from the FBI with more than thirty years of Federal and state law enforcement experience. As one of the original members of the FBI’s elite Art Crime Team, founded in 2004, Geoff managed numerous high-profile cases throughout his career and recovered more than $100 million in stolen artwork and cultural property; items as diverse as rare books, fine art, looted treasures – even Tom Brady’s stolen Super Bowl jerseys.
An internationally recognized expert in the field of fine art and antiquities theft, Geoff has traveled the world, training domestic and international agencies and institutions on proven methods and best practices to deter art and cultural property theft. He has a proven track record of solving difficult cases, making him one of the most respected investigators in the field. In addition to identifying the perpetrators of the Gardner Museum robbery, he solved the nation’s largest residential art burglary, recovering all of the stolen artwork and arresting the individual who was hiding it.
Geoff has extensive experience investigating violent crimes, including cold-case homicides, bank robberies, and kidnappings, and was the case agent on the real-life notorious Charlestown armored car robbery crew fictionalized in the Ben Affleck movie, The Town (in fact, the main character in the film, Agent Frawley, played by actor Jon Hamm, was based on Geoff). He worked closely with Affleck and the producers on the project and was credited as an advisor on the film.
He was also the case agent on the infamous unsolved Cape Cod homicide from 1974 involving a victim dubbed The Lady of the Dunes. Using investigative DNA genealogy, in 2022 Geoff was able to finally give a name to the victim, Ruth Marie Terry, identify her killer, and bring closure to her family after nearly half a century.
The final art recovery of Geoff’s career occurred the same week he retired, when he repatriated twenty-two culturally significant Okinawan artifacts that had been looted in the waning days of World War II. The collection, which included four royal portraits of Okinawan kings, are the first such portraits confirmed to be in existence, and were believed to have been lost forever, and up until Geoff’s recovery, could be studied only from pre-war photographs.
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Geoff is a graduate of Boston University and earned his master's degree in Criminal Justice, also from Boston University. He serves as an instructor at Harvard University’s Extension School, teaching a graduate-level course on art crime and investigations.
After retiring from the FBI, Geoff and his Art Crime Team colleagues formed Argus Cultural Property Consultants, a consulting firm dedicated to the preservation and protection of art & cultural property worldwide.