Art Dealer Salander Arrested ... Again

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed)
Jul 16th 2009 at 10:02PM

Larry Salander's glory days may be behind him, but that doesn't mean he stopped being a target. The 60-year-old bankrupt former mover and shaker was arrested again this week on a fistful of felony charges. On the list are three counts of grand larceny in the first degree and a count of falsifying business records in the first degree. If the stars line up against Salander, he could face a total of 29 (25+4) years behind bars.

All of this comes on top of a 100-count indictment filed back in March, in which Salander was accused of stealing a whopping $88 million in art from 26 collectors around the world.

Salander's claim to fame was that he was the first half of New York's Salander-O'Reilly Galleries. Leigh Morse, who worked as the director, was also arrested, charged with grand larceny and scheming to defraud several high-profile art estates. She could do 11 years (7+4) if the worst arises.

Both have gone the "not guilty" route, with Salander out on bail and Morse out on bond. But, neither is likely to be selling art anytime soon (I guess they have bigger problems than the current slump).

Art collectors benefit in two ways. It looks like two (alleged) bad guys are being yanked from the art scene. And, Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau sweetened the pot by offering some advice: "be careful who you consign your art to."

Yeah, thanks.

Tags: art, art galleries, art gallery, ArtGalleries, ArtGallery, artwork, felony, felony charges, FelonyCharges, galleries, gallery, manhattan, new york, NewYork, salander, scandal, scandalous, scandals