Possible Art Scam? - Major Divorce Auction on Mar 13th

[rrebold]

I attended the auction and the viewing before hand.  Most of the art on hand were lithographs, some apparently hand signed by artists, a few original oils including a Pissaro, which made me wonder about authenticity.  Each piece had the same certificate of authenticity, sourced to gallery in Philadelphia. This was a print auction business (possibly of manufactured art) and not art from an estate.

Some of the pieces went for $9K or more, including some lithographs (like you would buy at the framing store) went for $800.  Other things that struck me as strange:  Hispanic day laborers who obviously didn't know how to handle art had been hired to handle "expensive" art work.  Also, we were encouraged to place gooey stickers on the "expensive" art work in which we were interested.

This seemed peculiar, but it wasn't until I went home that a Google search revealed a long history of this auctioneer and his associates scamming unsophisticated art lovers in the US and Canada.  Google searches revealed that:  In one auction, he had claimed to be selling items from Bernie Madoff's  mansion - it turned out that he had one plastic Swatch watch that used to be in the Madoff family.  One purchaser paid $14K for a signed print that was later appraised as worthless.  Others had a hard time returning art that had been mis-represented.  One article noted that he was under FBI investigation. 
(He is business partners with the Milchmans.)
See below articles for more info:


https://www.myfloridalicense.com/LicenseDetail.asp?SID=&id=CA351D273B94FACEE7DB64253707BBE5

http://ctwatchdog.com/2009/12/09/madoff-auction-under-investigation

http://www.albertaauctioneers.com/articles/mag0908.pdf

http://scam.com/showthread.php?t=32244

http://www.courthousenews.com/2007/10/31/Psst!_Wanna_Buy_A_Chagall_.htm

http://www.silive.com/eastshore/index.ssf/2011/01/staten_island_art_lovers_say_h.html
Note the comments below this article.


Should I go to the FBI with this or is he just within the law?

- Rhett

[BarryS]

It's all pure scam.  Salvador Dali posters *and* carpets? LOL!  One of the many rackets designed to separate the wealth from the addle-brained wealthy.  This kind of crap has been running for years and relies on the ignorance of buyers and their reticence to purse legal action once they've been duped and humiliated.  I'd rather have a $10 Chinese factory painting, than the worthless garbage from these crooks.

[rrebold]

Yeah, I'm with you.  I'm glad I didn't spend a dime.  I actually started the bidding on a Matisse print at $20. The auctioneer remarked that oh, he was sorry; I must not have ever been to an art auction before.  It was a litho that ultimately went for $650; not a bad profit.  He definitely knew how to work a room of people, convincing people who spent $3K on a print that they had stolen it from him and that in New York, it would have gone for over $10,000,  but alas, he'd been told to accept any offer.  (Jesse:  Don't try this at the next ARTDC auction!)   

[BarryS]

Reminds me of the New Jersey guy that kept calling me and trying to hard sell me worthless stocks.  These "prints" are nothing more than posters with shady "authentications" and sometimes even forged signatures.  They're mass produced, worth nothing--and sold by criminals.

[Jesse]

Oh what a crazy experience.  Too bad you don't have video!

[rrebold]

No pictures allowed; don't know why....

[Jesse]

Hm.. I wonder why?