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Exclusive: Shannah Laumeister Stern’s allegations have ‘no legal or factual basis,’ according to the attorney representing the anonymous seller who consigned some 2,500 negatives set for bids on Monday
Justin RohrlichWednesday 03 December 2025 21:41 GMT
open image in galleryA batch of negatives from Marilyn Monroe's final photo shoot with late lensman Bert Stern, seen here in 2011, are now at the center of a contentious court battle. (Getty Images)
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An enormous tranche of negatives from the last photo shoot Marilyn Monroe ever sat for before she died is set to be auctioned off next week, but the widow of the renowned lensman who took the snaps is now trying to stop the sale, claiming the iconic images were stolen by organized crime and later used in an attempt to extort $3 million from her.
In court filings obtained by The Independent, actress/director/writer/producer/model Shannah Laumeister Stern, who in 2009 secretly married Bert Stern, a leading fashion photographer of the 1950s and 1960s, says the roughly 2,500 negatives long ago went missing “in the middle of the night” from Stern’s apartment.
The collection of photographs became known as “The Last Sitting.” Commissioned by Vogue magazine, they were taken in Suite 261 at the Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles during a three-day session in late June 1962. Monroe passed away six weeks later. Nowadays, individual prints from the shoot sell for as much as $25,000. In 2018, an unrelated dispute found the copyright to the iconic images belonged to Laumeister Stern, but the physical ownership of the negatives has never been tested.
Stern, who died in 2013, always “suspected that the Mafia was behind the theft of the photo negatives, and that they also bore responsibility for Marilyn Monroe’s untimely death,” according to a complaint Laumeister Stern filed Tuesday in New York County Supreme Court.
“Bert Stern’s fear and suspicion seemed to be confirmed as he periodically received anonymous messages from an individual in Las Vegas taunting him over the ‘missing’ photo negatives,” the complaint states. “As such, Bert Stern was legitimately scared and intimidated by the circumstances surrounding the theft of the photo negatives.”
open image in galleryA batch of negatives from Marilyn Monroe's final photo shoot with late lensman Bert Stern, seen here in 2011, are now at the center of a contentious court battle. (Getty Images)The whereabouts of the negatives were unknown until 2023, when Laumeister Stern was contacted by an attorney representing a woman identified only as “Jane Doe.” Doe said Stern had given the negatives to her late husband as collateral for a loan that was never repaid, the complaint goes on.
However, it contends that the purported loan never existed, and that Laumeister Stern cut off contact with Doe’s lawyer following his offer to return the negatives in exchange for a $3 million payment – a proposal the complaint describes as “a shake down [sic] as well as possibly related to the taunting messages Bert Stern had received.”
Doe subsequently consigned the negatives to Dallas-based Heritage Auctions, which is scheduled to put them up for bids on November 8. Laumeister Stern now wants the negatives back, and is asking a judge to halt the planned sale.
“The relief requested herein is necessary to prevent irreparable harm to the Estate and legacy of Bert Stern and Marilyn Monroe,” the complaint contends.
In a statement provided to The Independent, Laumeister Stern said, “I am completely distraught, heartbroken, and feel utterly exploited. They have demonstrated absolutely no respect for Bert or his legacy, which I am here to protect. They have shown total disregard for the estate and me. I feel deeply disrespected, used, and taken advantage of. The stolen negatives belong back with the Bert Stern Trust. Nothing will stop me.”
Attorney Richard Aulisi, a retired New York State Supreme Court judge who is representing Doe, said on Wednesday that the allegations in Laumeister Stern’s complaint may sound tantalizing but are not at all accurate.
“My client intends to fight this,” Aulisi told The Independent. “There is no legal or factual basis for this action.”
In an email, a spokesperson for Heritage Auctions said, “The consigner warranted good title in these items and we have no reason to believe otherwise.”
open image in galleryA tranche of negatives from the last photoshoot ever with Monroe, seen here in 1950 with New York Yankees legend and then-husband Joe DiMaggio, is set to be auctioned off Monday, unless the widow of the late lensman who took the snaps can put a stop to the planned sale. (AFP via Getty Images)Although Heritage declined to answer any follow-up questions, a source with knowledge of the situation told The Independent that Stern gave the negatives to Doe’s deceased husband in the late 1970s or early 1980s.
Following Bert Stern’s death, Shannah Laumeister Stern was put in charge of his estate, her complaint says.
But, it continues, missing from his massive body of work were the more than 2,500 negatives from The Last Sitting. Stern believed someone associated with the Mob was behind the heist, and speculation by many has linked Monroe’s death to La Cosa Nostra.
Over the years, Stern claimed to have been contacted periodically by an unknown person in Las Vegas who delighted in “taunting him” about the lost negatives, according to the complaint. Those comments, the filing maintains, frightened Stern.
“The location of the stolen photo negatives would remain a mystery until [Laumeister Stern was] contacted by an attorney in July 2023 informing [her] that he represents the anonymous possessor of the photo negatives who he claims is a good faith possessor, having acquired the photo negatives from her late husband,” the complaint states.
The attorney “first claimed that the stolen photo negatives were retrieved from the trash before claiming that the anonymous possessor’s late husband acquired the photo negatives as collateral for a loan to Bert Stern that was never repaid, but no such agreement exists,” according to the complaint.
open image in galleryShannah Laumeister Stern (center), the widow of celebrated photographer Bert Stern, seen here in 2004 with actors Vince Van Patten and James Woods. She is now attempting to halt the sale of 2,500 negatives her late husband took of Marilyn Monroe, claiming they were stolen by the Mafia. (Getty Images)Given the attorney’s “conflicting stories” about the negatives, along with his “unwillingness to disclose the identity of his client,” who he would only describe as a onetime “business partner” of Stern, the complaint says Laumeister Stern “felt like this was a shake down[,] as well as possibly related to the taunting messages Bert Stern had received.”
“Communications with this attorney ceased when he demanded $3 million dollars for the return of the photo negatives,” according to the complaint.
When Laumeister Stern learned Monday that the negatives had been consigned to Heritage Auctions and were “currently scheduled to be sold to the highest bidder on December 8, 2025,” she filed suit.
Her complaint says she has demanded that Heritage call off the auction and that Jane Doe return the negatives to her, but that “these requests have been denied.” It also says Laumeister Stern has “reported the pending sale of the stolen photo negatives to the FBI.” With no other remedy available, Laumeister Stern is asking a judge to intervene.
Laumeister Stern is seeking a declaratory judgment that she is the lawful owner of The Last Sitting negatives, the return of the negatives, plus monetary damages to be determined in court, as well as attorneys’ fees and court costs.
