 Following the war, the forgery was discovered in Göring's possession and van Meegeren was arrested on 29 May 1945 as a collaborator, as officials believed that he had sold real Dutch cultural property to the Nazis.This would have been an act of treason carrying the death penalty, so van Meegeren confessed to the less serious charge of forgery.He was convicted on falsification and fraud charges on 12 November 1947, after a brief but highly publicised trial, and was sentenced to a modest punishment of one year in prison.