The Madoffs of the Art World
It’s amazing how in times of need, i.e. the past few years that this country’s economy has been suffering, there is still so much repulsive greed among the wealthiest of the wealthy.
In what authorities are calling the biggest art fraud case in New York history, Lawrence B. Salander, a veteran art dealer, and his former right-hand-woman Leigh Morse, were respectively indicted and arrested this week for scamming up to 28 clients out of over $92 million. Salander’s Upper East Side gallery, Salander-O’Reilly, filed for bankruptcy in 2007, and apparently owes creditors upwards of $300 million.
Among the art duo’s schemes, Bloomberg news reported that Morse “sold artworks from the estate of Abstract Expressionist painter Robert De Niro Sr., father of actor Robert De Niro, and didn’t inform the estate of sales or remit proceeds…in May 2007, Morse sold two De Niro paintings and arranged for the $77,000 purchase price to be wired to her personal bank account,” said Manhattan Distrct Attorney Robert Morgenthau.
I hope that Salander and Morse go the way of Madoff. To read the full news report from Bloomberg, click here.
Actor Robert De Niro in front of a painting by his father, artist Robert De Niro Sr., called Bust on Table with Yellow Chair
2 years ago | Tags: art fraud robert de niro lawrence b. salander scam leigh morse art gallery
