“The Strange Journey of John Lennon’s Stolen Patek Philippe Watch: For Decades, Yoko Ono Thought That the Birthday Gift Was in Her Dakota Apartment. But It Had Been Removed and Sold—And Now Awaits a Court Ruling in Geneva”, Jay Fielden2024-06-17 (crime, computer security)⁠:

…In August of 2023, a reporter named Coline Emmel, who works for a small but enterprising Web site in Switzerland called Gotham City, found something interesting in a backlog of documents filed that summer by the Chambre Civile in the canton of Geneva—an appellate judgment in a civil case that had been going on for 5 years.

European privacy laws, especially those in Switzerland, make legal documents unusually hard to decipher. The Swiss judiciary uses a system of letters and numbers to create pseudonyms for appellants, respondents, and anyone else involved, turning a case file into a cryptogram.

Emmel knew enough about Beatles history to recognize that “C_____, widow of late F____, of Japanese nationality and domiciled in [New York City]” was, in fact, Yoko Ono.

Although the appeals court affirmed the lower court’s decision that Ono was the “sole legitimate owner of the watch”, Mr. A—“a watch collector and longtime professional in the sector, of Italian nationality”—was launching another appeal.

Emmel posted a brief synopsis on Gotham City, along with the news that a final judgment was now being awaited from the Swiss Supreme Court.