Philanthropist arrested in Berlin

The inquiry into a gift of Stradivarius instruments to the Smithsonian Institution took a dramatic turn this week when the donor, Herbert Axelrod, was arrested in Germany.

The multimillionaire philanthropist had fled the United States in April for Cuba and was arrested Tuesday night in Berlin after taking a flight from Zurich. Axelrod, 76, is charged with defrauding the Internal Revenue Service in a business matter, but that inquiry opened up questions about whether he’d deliberately exaggerated the value of instruments he gave the Smithsonian and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra to get a substantial tax break. Orchestra officials say the FBI is reviewing that transaction.