Post by artladval on Mar 18, 2010 10:49:18 GMT -8
www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/paint_misbehavin_UecQMZuQGbjfRu0FzXu74L
Disgraced Upper East Side gallery giant Lawrence Salander plans to plead guilty today to what prosecutors call the biggest fraud scheme in New York art history -- a $100 million trail of larceny that soaked wealthy clients, including tennis great John McEnroe and actor Robert De Niro.
Salander, 60, will plead guilty to some two dozen charges that he ripped off clients to the tune of $93 million, said his lawyer, Charles Ross.
Under the deal, the bankrupt mogul will be ordered to pay back -- somehow -- as much as possible of the total $100 million prosecutors say he stole to fund a lavish lifestyle.
When Salander returns to court for sentencing later this year, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Michael Obus will determine his prison term -- a maximum of 6 to 18 years under the deal -- based on how much he has managed to pay back, Ross said. Salander faced 25 years if convicted of the charges.
"This is a good result for him, and for the people whom he is deeply remorseful and sorry about hurting," the lawyer said yesterday.
Salander and the defunct Salander-O'Reilly Galleries on East 79th Street, and later East 71st Street, once enjoyed great prominence in the art world.
But Salander's fortunes began crashing in a downward -- and friends say alcohol-fueled -- spiral.
By the mid-'90s, prosecutors charged, he began defrauding more than two dozen victims -- some of the East Coast art world's biggest investors and owners.
In his simplest scam, as with McEnroe -- a longtime friend and godfather to one of Salander's seven kids -- he'd sell interests in the same painting multiple times, prosecutors charged.
In 2005, McEnroe invested $2 million in two of the gallery's paintings -- "Pirate I" and "Pirate II" by Arshile Gorky -- only to learn that he, Salander and a third investor all owned a "50 percent" share in the paintings.
The gallery was also the sole handler for the paintings of Robert De Niro Sr., the actor's late father.
Prosecutors charged that in 2007, Salander sold two De Niro paintings -- "Guitar Case" and "Landscape with Pink Field" -- to an unnamed buyer for a total of $77,000 and had the entire amount wired directly into his gallery director's personal bank account without informing the estate of the sale.
"The financial side is not my strong suit," he told The Post from Rikers Island last year -- before he could scrape together a $1 million bail bond.
Salander, 60, will plead guilty to some two dozen charges that he ripped off clients to the tune of $93 million, said his lawyer, Charles Ross.
Under the deal, the bankrupt mogul will be ordered to pay back -- somehow -- as much as possible of the total $100 million prosecutors say he stole to fund a lavish lifestyle.
When Salander returns to court for sentencing later this year, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Michael Obus will determine his prison term -- a maximum of 6 to 18 years under the deal -- based on how much he has managed to pay back, Ross said. Salander faced 25 years if convicted of the charges.
"This is a good result for him, and for the people whom he is deeply remorseful and sorry about hurting," the lawyer said yesterday.
Salander and the defunct Salander-O'Reilly Galleries on East 79th Street, and later East 71st Street, once enjoyed great prominence in the art world.
But Salander's fortunes began crashing in a downward -- and friends say alcohol-fueled -- spiral.
By the mid-'90s, prosecutors charged, he began defrauding more than two dozen victims -- some of the East Coast art world's biggest investors and owners.
In his simplest scam, as with McEnroe -- a longtime friend and godfather to one of Salander's seven kids -- he'd sell interests in the same painting multiple times, prosecutors charged.
In 2005, McEnroe invested $2 million in two of the gallery's paintings -- "Pirate I" and "Pirate II" by Arshile Gorky -- only to learn that he, Salander and a third investor all owned a "50 percent" share in the paintings.
The gallery was also the sole handler for the paintings of Robert De Niro Sr., the actor's late father.
Prosecutors charged that in 2007, Salander sold two De Niro paintings -- "Guitar Case" and "Landscape with Pink Field" -- to an unnamed buyer for a total of $77,000 and had the entire amount wired directly into his gallery director's personal bank account without informing the estate of the sale.
"The financial side is not my strong suit," he told The Post from Rikers Island last year -- before he could scrape together a $1 million bail bond.