Marilyn Karos was sentenced
to 20 months in prison.
This astrolabe is similar
to the ones involved in the
case against Marilyn Karos,
a Whitefish Bay art dealer.
Posted on 11/01/2005 2:20:39 PM PST by afraidfortherepublic
Before sentencing a Whitefish Bay art dealer on her second conviction stemming from an initial crime, a federal judge said Monday he hadn't really seen a "clear portrait" of the defendant and that what he did see was "impressionistic."
But U.S. District Judge Charles N. Clevert Jr. said he had enough perspective to throw the book at Marilyn Karos, concluding that she had once more thumbed her nose at the law in the case that comprised a Libyan businessman, Renaissance-era astronomical devices, a hidden-camera videotape made at the Pfister Hotel and a Mob-style beat-down in the North Shore.
Clevert sentenced Karos, 64, to 20 months in prison - several more than what federal guidelines recommended - for obstructing justice as she tried to solicit a false affidavit on behalf of an ex-lover, Chicago art dealer Richard O'Hara.
"The criminal justice system should be respected," Clevert said. "It should not be manipulated for one's personal reasons."
Then several friends and relatives in the courtroom, including her husband, wept as Karos was led in handcuffs to be processed.
But not before she delivered a mocking "thank you" to the lead FBI agent in the case. "You didn't have to do this," she told agent Jim Doyle, who looked on blankly as deputy U.S. marshals took Karos to the courthouse basement.
The story began in the 1980s, when Karos received four artifacts stolen from a Roman astronomical museum, three astrolabes and an armillary sphere. The ancient navigational instruments were valued at as much as $450,000 by a government expert.
She later tried to sell the items and had enlisted the aid of Libyan-born Zakria El-Shafei as her agent. But he turned on Karos and tried to pawn the items, and also sought a reward for their return to the Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma (the objects subsequently were returned).
That's when, in 1997, she lured El-Shafei to her Whitefish Bay home, where O'Hara beat him with a baseball bat in an attempt to secure the objects' return.
As a result of that incident, Karos was convicted in 2001 on federal charges of possessing stolen items. She served seven months in prison but, in 2004, only months after she was released from court supervision, Karos was in trouble again, according to court records and testimony.
To emphasize the point, prosecutors on Monday had their own audiovisual presentation, a videotape in which one of the men present in Karos' basement in 1997, Jim Kosi, betrays Karos by wearing a hidden camera and microphone to a meeting between the two at the Pfister.
In the videotape, in which Karos brags that she lost 14 pounds in anticipation of O'Hara's release from his 10-year prison term, she tries to get Kosi to sign an affidavit saying that O'Hara hadn't additionally threatened the mother of El-Shafei's child. Someone ultimately filed the affidavit as part of O'Hara's appeal, which was later dismissed.
"No one will know," Karos says, sitting on the veranda at the Pfister, after offering Kosi $56,000.
Kosi flatters Karos and engages in vulgar chatter and discussions of his African big-game hunting. As he bids Karos to speak louder, he blames his hearing loss on those expeditions.
Karos pleaded guilty to the latest charge in April and had sought a reduced sentence for cooperating with federal prosecutors in another bizarre scheme, this one based in St. Louis and involving someone else's attempts to sell brass doors that purportedly belonged to Muhammad Ali. She still may face charges in that case.
Clevert granted a minimal reduction for Karos in a sentencing points system, but then went beyond the recommended sentencing range of 12-18 months.
He also said the letters pouring in seeking clemency for Karos rang similar to those submitted after her 2001 conviction, and thus provided little guidance.
"Respect for the law must be maintained," he said before imposing the sentence, which included a fine of $30,000.
Given the chance to address the court, Karos said she had nothing to say.
PING!
This one has to be of interest to you......
Marilyn Karos was sentenced
to 20 months in prison.
This astrolabe is similar
to the ones involved in the
case against Marilyn Karos,
a Whitefish Bay art dealer.
whatchutalkinabout?? ;)
2/20/05: Art dealer in stolen items case accused of obstruction
7/13/01: Art dealer sentenced to 10 years for stolen goods
6/8/01: Prison, fine given in Bay art case
3/21/01: Illinois art dealer convicted of conspiracy
3/14/01: Secrets delay trial over stolen art
3/9/01: Art dealer ordered to pay for man's beating
Wow! I'd better be careful.
Oyster Bar in Cottonwood is where these types hide out.
Post #3.
Hugh Rodham had two daughters?
Seems like it was sufficently concluded without my participation.
What happened to "art for art's sake"?
:)
bump
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