Nearly 250 works of art -- including pieces by Chagall, Matisse, Picasso and Toulouse-Lautrec -- are being sold online through a national auction ending Monday, the U.S. Marshals Service said.

The 245 art works were forfeited to the government after being seized in several federal court cases, the agency said in a statement.

On Thursday afternoon, the highest bid was $68,000 -- for a Rembrandt -- but some pieces were as low as $30.

All items up for auction were used to facilitate a crime or obtained with proceeds from a crime, said Lynzey Donahue, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Marshals Service.

Proceeds from the auctions will go to victims of those crimes, the release said.

Much of the art for sale, she said, came from prosecutions against three individuals:

-- Mark Dreier, 62, of New York, who was convicted in 2009 of fraud and money laundering involving $400 million;

-- Justin French, 41, of Richmond, Virginia, who was convicted in 2011 of stealing millions from federal and state tax credit programs;

-- Shawn Merriman, 49, of Aurora, Colorado, who was convicted in 2010 of defrauding millions from 67 investors in a Ponzi scheme.

Gaston & Sheehan Auctioneers are hosting the auction on their website, www.txauction.com, Donahue said.

She said the U.S. Marshals Service usually does several auctions a year.

"Each (geographic) district usually does their own as far as cars, but for things like art and jewelry we'll consolidate it and do a few a year," she said.

The U.S. Marshals Service has a national contract with Gaston & Sheehan, Donahue said. She added that every year the service solicits bids from companies that want the contract.