Tennis star-turned-broadcaster John McEnroe was
duped along with investment firms, art owners and the Bank of America in a sophisticated $88 million art investment scam, officials said Thursday at a press conference held by Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau.
Art dealer Lawrence Salander, 59, was arrested at his Millbrook, NY home Thursday. Salander and the gallery he owns, Salander-O'Reilly Galleries LLC, were charged with 100 counts, including grand larceny and securities fraud.
In October of 2007, a judge ordered the gallery closed amid mounting law suits.
According to the Associated Press, Salander sold McEnroe a half-interest in an Arshile Gorky painting, promising they would share the profits when it was sold. When McEnroe confronted Salander after discovering the painting was hanging on someone's wall, Salander gave him a half interest in a different painting by the same artist. But when McEnroe loaned the painting to Christies, the auction house refused to return it, saying someone else had put a lien on it. McEnroe's lawyer told the AP that the former tennis player does not have a civil lawsuit pending against former art dealer.
Salander was arraigned in Manhattan's state Supreme Court and held on $1 million bail. He faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted of first-degree grand larceny. -- Mary Kathleen Flynn
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