Copyright Law

Salander Indicted (UPDATED 3X)

By Intellectual Property Law, Esq.

"A noted Upper East Side art dealer has been indicted on charges he stole $88 million from investors and collectors who consigned artwork to him and said they were cheated out of the sale proceeds or never saw the pieces again .... The dealer, Lawrence B. Salander, and his business, the Salander-O?Reilly Galleries, were charged by a grand jury with 100 counts including grand larceny, falsifying business records, scheming to defraud, forgery and perjury ...."

UPDATE: Mark Durney comments: "This would appear to be another case of investor anxiety exposing another Ponzi scheme. ... Certainly, the art market is not as far removed from Wall Street as some would like to believe. ... Could this lead to more regulation in the art market? It should not take a recession to expose an $88 million dollar fraud. However, culpability also rests on the shoulders of investors as they should be more careful with their money and look past those resplendent Upper East Side front doors."

UPDATE 2: Judith Dobrzynski: "Everyone who ever visited his new gallery on East 71st Street in New York wondered how Salander did it; we're about to learn more details. In the context of Wall Street scandals, this must look small -- but the art world doesn't need this now."

UPDATE 3: "Art-World Madoff Arraigned in Manhattan Court."

Full post as published by The Art Law Blog on March 26, 2009 (boomark / email).