[MSN] Man Indicted as Fake Dealer in Theft of a Degas Sculpture.

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July 19, 2006
Man Indicted as Fake Dealer in Theft of a Degas Sculpture 
By ANEMONA HARTOCOLLIS

He was a retired business executive and an important collector of
20th-century art, living in a five-story town house on Sutton Place that had
grown difficult for him to navigate, even with the elevator. 

The retired executive, Norman Alexander, thought he had met the perfect
guest and potential savior in a smooth-talking, charming and knowledgeable
man named Tom Doyle.

Mr. Doyle told Mr. Alexander that he would handle all his affairs, selling
both his house and his art collection, according to Mr. Alexander’s lawyer. 

But in a story right out of the Broadway play “Six Degrees of Separation,”
the perfect guest was unmasked yesterday as a swindler, “a talented con
artist,” in the words of Robert M. Morgenthau, the Manhattan district
attorney, who announced that Thomas Doyle had been indicted on grand larceny
charges.

The tale of Mr. Alexander and Mr. Doyle shows that in the great tradition of
New York con artists, from the lowliest sidewalk three-card monte players to
those who stalk the more rarefied precincts of the Upper East Side, no one,
no matter how sophisticated and worldly wise, is immune to the blandishments
of a talented poseur.

Mr. Alexander, who is in his early 70’s, was single, childless and living
alone in the elegant gray brick house at 19 Sutton Place, its bay windows
and stone Medusa head half a block from the East River promenade, when an
acquaintance introduced him to Tom Doyle in 2004.

Mr. Alexander had recently had a stroke, and the house, even with staff, was
too big, his lawyer said. He had put it on the market through a reputable
broker for $11 million, and the price certainly did not seem out of line.

Mr. Doyle, 48, carried a business card that identified him, despite his last
name, as a member of the Duveen family, a descendant of Joseph Duveen, later
Lord Duveen of Millbank. Lord Duveen (1869-1939) dominated the world art
market during the 1920’s and 30’s, according to a biography, “Duveen: The
Story of the Most Spectacular Art Dealer of All Time,” by S. N. Behrman and
Glenn Lowry. Mr. Duveen’s firm sold art to the likes of Andrew Mellon, J. P.
Morgan and Henry Clay Frick, so why not sell art for Norman Alexander, who
had a substantial collection of 20th-century paintings and sculptures?

Mr. Doyle was not ostentatious, which only added to his credibility, said
Robert S. Cohen, Mr. Alexander’s lawyer. He favored casual khakis, and was
knowledgeable about art. “He walked the walk and talked the talk when it
came to art,” Dan Castleman, chief of investigations for Mr. Morgenthau,
said yesterday. But in fact, Mr. Castleman said, Mr. Doyle was self-taught
in art.

He was an experienced con artist, “not an ingénu,” Mr. Morgenthau said. He
said Mr. Doyle arrived in New York City near the end of 2001, after skipping
parole in Kansas on a federal conviction for transporting stolen goods
across state lines. Officials said he had swindled $200,000 in jewelry from
a Tennessee woman, and served two years in prison.

Mr. Alexander entrusted Mr. Doyle with a Degas bronze of a nude dancer
looking at the sole of her right foot, a piece that prosecutors said was
worth $600,000. Mr. Doyle said he would buy the sculpture, and in February
2005, he wired a $100,000 down payment to Mr. Alexander’s lawyer. But when
asked for the rest, he gave a variety of excuses — his father had died, he
had broken his leg, according to court papers.

In fact, prosecutors said, Mr. Doyle had sold the dancer to a Manhattan art
gallery for $225,000, a fraction of its true value. Within three months,
according to court papers, it changed hands three more times, ending up in
the hands of a collector in Hong Kong. Mr. Alexander finally grew suspicious
and contacted the district attorney’s office.

In 2005, Mr. Alexander sued three Manhattan galleries, Spanierman Gallery,
Universe Antiques and the Rafael Collection Ltd., demanding the return of
the Degas or repayment of its value. The suit is still winding its way
through the courts, and Gavin Spanierman, director of the Spanierman
Gallery, the last gallery to have the Degas, has refused to disclose the
name of the Hong Kong buyer, saying that customers’ identities are
confidential. “I bought it in good faith and sold it in good faith,” he said
yesterday.

Mr. Doyle did not enter a plea yesterday. As for Mr. Alexander, he referred
questions to his lawyer, Mr. Cohen, who said: “Mr. Alexander hopes that this
indictment will assist him in the return from Spanierman Gallery of this
very important sculpture that he loved.”

Sarah Garland contributed reporting for this article.

http://www.nytimes.com/