Con Man and Expensive Art

"Art Dealer Is Sentenced for $120 Million Scheme"
The New York Times (August 2, 2010)

"He cultivated their trust with his longstanding reputation as a prominent art dealer and endeared them with a smile, backslapping charm and firm reassurances. But he used it all to steal — not only money and valuable artwork, but also family heirlooms, memories of loved ones and connections to the past.

"Those viewpoints were shared Tuesday by 10 victims of Lawrence B. Salander, the once-esteemed art dealer who pleaded guilty in March to a $120 million fraud scheme that included stealing from the likes of John McEnroe and the estate of Robert De Niro Sr., an artist and the father of the actor...."

I got the impression that The New York Times' editors were not very sympathetic for Mr. Salander. Can't say that I blame them. The sort of crime he committed, betraying the trust of people whose good will he had cultivated, is quite deplorable.

Like the time he came to a house where the father had died, cried, and walked away with about $2,000,000 in art - which he then sold.

Mr. Salander is looking at a sentence of 6 to 18 years, plus $114,000,000 in restitution - the latter is somewhat hypothetical, since the judge said that the one-time-art dealer probably couldn't come up with the cash.

Fraud, fakery, and high-end art seem to go hand-in-hand: but I suppose it's at least partly a matter of what sort of crimes tend to get in the news.

Then there are artists who throw paint at something, call it art, and sell it to collectors for exorbitant sums. That, I think, is a daft way to spend money: but like the folks who bought those taxidermy BrewDog beer, it's their decision.

Ripping off a bereaved family: that's quite literally a crime.