A gallery owner has been arrested by the FBI for a fraud involving Ansel Adams photos.
Wendy Halsted Beard, who owned the Wendy Halsted Gallery in Birmingham, Michigan, was arrested on Friday and charged with mail and wire fraud and accused of orchestrating a scheme involving photographs that she received on consignment.
Prosecutors allege that she sold pictures without the owner’s knowledge, pocketed the cash, or failed to return unsold works.reports that Beard tried to cover up the fraud by claiming she had been in two prolonged comas and by passing off cheap copies of Adams’ prints she bought from the photographer’s gift shop as original, signed photographs.
Police arrested Beard and released a 24-page criminal complaint while spelling out the case: “Over 100 rare fine art photographs with a combined estimated value of approximately $1.6 million have been identified as being consigned to Beard and not returned or sold to victims without being delivered. Beard’s victims are typically elderly individuals.”
According to an affidavit, an 82-year-old victim gave Beard $900,000 worth of fine art photography in 2018 for her to sell on consignment. Included in the collection was a mural-sized photograph ofBeard agreed to sell the photograph for $685,000 with a 5% commission. Investigators say she sold it for $440,000 but the victim was never notified she had sold it and never received the money.
A second victim, an 89-year-old collector suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, consigned photos, including prints by Adams as well as photographers Ion Zupco,
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