Art Dealer Lawrence Salander Receives 6 to 18 Year Sentence, Judge Terms Events ‘Deplorable’
Art dealer Lawrence Salander, seated on end of bench, surrounded by his lawyer Charles Ross and three adult children this morning at New York State Supreme Court. © Photo: Lindsay Pollock
A pair of burly court officers escorted a tearful, handcuffed Lawrence Salander from a courtroom this afternoon, shortly after a judge doled out his sentence. Salander, the former dealer and Sunday painter who had plead guilty to a $120 million art fraud in March, received six to 18 years in prison. Judge Michael J. Obus termed the saga “deplorable.”
The hearing, which commenced around 9:30 a.m. this morning, concluded nearly four hours later. Ten victims stood before a podium and described tales of emotional and financial pain.
Salander’s lawyer Charles Ross asked the court for leniency, citing Salander’s family–seven children– and poor health, noting the dealer had been an alcoholic for over forty years.
Salander, wearing wrinkled khakis, was accompanied by his three adult children–Ivana, Isaac and Jonah. Salander’s wife Julie, who has split with her husband, also attended.
“Salander is a pathologically self-absorbed con man,” said assistant district attorney Kenn Kern, who pressed for the maximum sentence. Salander “lived the dream,” said Kern, citing a birthday party at the Frick, private jet rides and a 60 acres estate in Millbrook, “financed by a Ponzi scheme that would make Bernard Madoff proud.”
Read Bloomberg’s coverage of the day’s events here.
Here are my notes from the remarks made by some of his victims:
Neelon Crawford, son of painter Ralston Crawford:
“It has been clear that Larry Salander engaged in criminal business activities for many years and that these activities were habitual. I would prefer that Larry Salander return my property or pay me but this option does not appear likely.” Further, “I’ve never seen anything like this legal mess. I’ve wasted a lot of my time and energy on this matter and the financial loss was very significant. The deception and arrogance were beyond frustrating.”
Dr. Ellyn Shander, daughter of gallery client Dr. Alexander Pearlman whose $2 million art collection Larry Salander sold and without paying proceeds to Shander and her sister.
“This man broke our hearts. Larry Salander is a thief. He viciously stole my Dad’s art collection but this is more than a simple theft. This man manipulated my Father for years.”
She continued “Larry Salander is consumed by greed and lived a gluttonous lifestyle beyond his means. Larry Salander is a criminal. The only just outcome is to sentence him to the maximum sentence under the law.”
Earl Davis, son of modernist painter Stuart Davis, from whom Salander stole 90 paintings worth $18 million
“Larry Salander’s betrayal has been emotionally traumatic for me on many levels. Being robbed at gunpoint or a thief in the night would have been preferable.”
“He has fundamentally crippled my ability to present my father’s work. I can say my optimism for future projects…is darkly overshadowed with feelings of bitterness and regret.”
“This is a terrible thing for me to have to say, but Mr. Salander remains an unrepentant and dangerous con man who deserves no special mercy from the court.”
Kinney Frelinghuysen, director of the Frelinghuysen Morris House (George L.K. Morris and Suzy Frelinghuysen) defrauded of 41 works worth in excess of $2 million
“I feel battered and reluctant to engage in a trusting relationship in the art world in the future. We have all been trampled on.”
The day was extremely moving, sad and cathartic. I often find that when asked about what Larry did, that I am unable to adequately convey the egregiousness of his “game of mirrors” (Ms. Shander) or the devastating path left in the wake of his crimes. Being with other victims– hearing about the emotional and financial ordeals of so many and listening to Kenn Kern so eloquently parse through Larry’s litany of offenses and machinations was strangely comforting. Few others can possibly understand.
Finally, there was closure. Justice Obus administered justice and the “deploring”
deplorable Saga is over. Some of us, at least, can now pay our last legal bill, and begin to focus our energies on exhibitions, loans and publications–our “noble missions” as Kinney Frelinghuysen put it. I am feeling the positive energy already, as I mourn the loss of a man I once held high in the art world, but who sacrificed integrity in favor of a lethal game of fraud, grand larceny and Renaissance charades.
Thanks very much for your heartfelt comments.
So…corrupt art dealer Lawrence Salander gets hard time for cheating the heirs of some famous artists, but what about art museums (and, by extension, its fiduciary partners such as the board of directors and museum trustees) when they cheat the general taxpaying public and tarnish the art world by abusing their tax-exempt nonprofit status? For example, the current King Tut exhibition is winding down its tour in the U.S. Art museums hosting the show have been roundly criticized because they’re surrendering curatorial decision-making to partner profit-making entities. More to the point, in 2009 the Dallas Museum of Art refused to turn over financial records related to the King Tut show at the request of the Dallas Morning News when the museum was reported to have lost money on the show due to poor attendance. Where is the DMA’s museum transparency? It certainly begs the question: Is the DMA primarily serving its King Tut profit-making partners or the taxpaying public? Why hasn’t the Texas state’s attorney brought the DMA before a court of law for such behavior? Is the DMA too big (rich) to fall? This is not the first incident involving the DMA. In May of this year Art Market Views reported on the $31M Rothko painting “secret sale” which was supposed to have been an irrevocably promised gift to the DMA. Instead, then-DMA museum trustee, Ms. Hoffman pulled it, sold it and profited handsomely! What about the irrevocably promised gift to the DMA by Howard and Cindy Rachofsky of Jeff Koons monumental sculpture Balloon Flower (Magenta)? That piece was taken out to the museum’s future when the Rachofskys pulled it from the DMA and sold it for more than $25.8M. Where’s the museum transparency that accounts for the disbursement of the proceeds? How much profit did the Rachofskys reap on that deal? They originally purchased it 8 years earlier at approximately $1.2M of the final sale price! This is a recent sampling of the DMA’s machinations, but from what I understand, a respectable Texas art historian and others know of more, DMA-scandal-skeletons. Traditional journalists are land-locked in their city and probably reluctant to report on these shenanigans and may fear losing their jobs. However, out-of-state bloggers and others can’t be retaliated against for asking the hard questions.
To say the list this is a day of rejoice. Larry has taken my art, a new to the art history painting expression, and kept me away from the public eye, until 2005 when I discovered my painting expression exhibited was stolen by Ken Price at the Armor Show 2005….and guess what? that happened while Larry dried me out to the penny so I cannot file a court case and protect myself. Ken Price who all of a sudden and out of the blue came out with a new genuine expression refuses to sees the violation. After discovering the theft, Larry throw me out of the Gallery and I had to leave NY penny less. Shortly after I left, the MOMA, who was aware of my work as it was pending at the director desk for 3 years, published Ken Price work and there you go; The Bond and the stock…You think Larry stolen only 120 million US$ being it the worth of the objects he stolen however, larry sold out my copyrights and the violation sums in hundreds of millions to this date. So where is the art world heading? Do you really think that Ken Price, who was well known for his bold color objects, came up in one day with such a deep creation??? How naive can you be? If you think Larry Salander is alone in this you are wrong; the uptown dealer and the down town dealers made one hand or as Matthew Marks told me: ‘It’s like that in the art world’. I wonder if America’s elite support such a claim or will it stand for truth and knowledge? In the mean time the sells continues and Ken Price backed up with Matthew Marks roll the money into their pocket…do you think Larry let them have it all by their own
I don’t think so;