- “It's the American dream baby.”
- —Jackson Brumas upon stealing The Uplifter.
Jackson Brumas was an Alliance Shadow Operative and thief. He served in the Alliance for eight years as a Shadow Operative, stealing things of value for the Alliance and learning skills that would become assets to him later in life. Eight years into his career with the Alliance, he lost his left arm stealing a turian weapon prototype and was discharged.
Two years later, he started freelancing as a thief for hire, stealing things like paintings, artifacts, and antiques. His work earned him enough money to purchase a robotic arm based off of geth technology.
His biggest heist came in 2165 CE, when he stole the legendary painting, The Uplifter, a several-thousand-year-old painting of Alamani Retolus, the first asari councilor. The painting was said to have been painted at the time of the establishment of the Citadel Council, and thus was worth a lot of money. With the money he earned, Brumas retired living in his home city of Denver on Earth.
Sixteen years later, Brumas left retirement for one last job. He was hired by the art collector Turact Aldarian to steal Michealangelo's David from the gallery of the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence. Aldarian hired mercenaries to attack the gallery. They were defeated, but the shooting prompted the Alliance to move all art pieces, including David, to a secure facility. Brumas infiltrated the gallery by disguising himself as a security guard assigned to oversee the transfer. He waited until after the statue was loaded into the freighter, then attempted to take control of the ship, but was stopped and killed by a security mech. It was considered an isolated incident.
Seven years after his death, Brumas was revealed as the man who stole The Uplifter, and his heist of the painting became the subject of the popular film, Seventeen Minutes. It was the best-selling movie in five years and was rumored to have been banned in asari space.