“Tough day for a swindler.”
Not that tough, hold up a gas station for $200 and you get more jail time
Thanks for posting. I love hearing about rich libs getting swindled by their ‘friends’ bah!
The scene could have been entitled, “Still Life with a Sobbing Swindler.”
There stood disgraced upper East Side gallery owner Larry Salander - with tears in his eyes - as he was sentenced on Tuesday to at least six years in prison for ripping off $120 million worth in art from Robert De Niro, John McEnroe and other wealthy friends and investors.
And there, staring daggers at Salander from the other side of the courtroom, were 10 of his victims.
“He got off easy,” said a disgusted Ellyn Shander, whose father’s paintings by Picasso, Cezanne and other European masters were pilfered by Salander. “This man broke [our father’s] trust, stole his legacy and broke our hearts.”
“If I’d been robbed at gunpoint or (by) a thief in the night, (it) would have been preferable,” said Earl Davis, the son of renowned American artist Stuart Davis.
Salander stole 90 of Davis paintings - valued at $18 million.
Dressed in a rumpled khaki sports jacket and slacks, the 61-year-old thief had the chutzpah to beg for a lighter prison sentence - even though he hasn’t payed a penny back to his victims.
“I’ve lost my life, my business and my reputation,” he sobbed after apologizing to his victims, his wife, Julie, and three children from a first marriage. “I’m utterly and completely disgraced.”
Supreme Court Justice Michael Obus didn’t fall for the sob story, sending Salander to jail for the maximum time allowed under the plea deal.
Once Salander lived like a prince on a lavish 60-year-old estate in Millbrook, N.Y. His luxurious lifestyle included flying on private jets to his kids’ little league games. All that came crashing down last year when he was hit with a 100-count indictment.
Former clients desperate to get the paintings they’d entrusted Salander with began filing lawsuits and forced his Salander-O’Reilly gallery into bankruptcy.
He pleaded guilty to 29 counts of grand larceny in March.
“Lawrence Salander is a pathologically self absorbed con man who betrayed his friends, partners, investors heirs and living artists,” Assistant District Attorney Kenn Kern told the judge.