[MSN] Con man accused in Manhattan in Degas 'Dancer' art swindle.

[Museum Security Network Mailinglist]

Con man accused in Manhattan in Degas 'Dancer' art swindle
7/18/2006, 11:12 p.m. ET
By TOM HAYS 
The Associated Press    

NEW YORK (AP) - A convicted con man was charged on Tuesday with stealing a
$600,000 bronze sculpture of a dancer by Edgar Degas from a wealthy
collector by masquerading as an art aficionado.

Thomas Doyle appeared in court to face charges of grand larceny and
possession of stolen property but did not enter a plea because he didn't
have a lawyer. The case was adjourned until Aug. 10.

The defendant already was in federal custody for violating his supervised
release in a $200,000 jewelry swindle in Tennessee. While on the run in that
case in 2004, he settled in Manhattan, where he won the trust of 73-year-old
collector Norman Alexander by convincing him he was related to renowned art
dealer Sir Joseph Duveen, prosecutors said.

Doyle "was a very talented con man," District Attorney Robert Morgenthau
said.

The collector, who was considering selling his town house and art
collection, agreed to let Doyle take the Degas bronze to have it
authenticated, prosecutors said. The 19-inch-tall piece by the French
impressionist, who died in 1917, is titled "Danseuse Regardant la Plante de
son Pied Droit," or "Dancer Looking at the Sole of her Right Foot."

Prosecutors say Doyle secretly sold the sculpture to an antiques dealer for
$225,000 in early 2005. For the next several months he stonewalled the
collector, telling him that the piece was with a California expert, then
that it had been damaged and was being repaired, prosecutors said.

After Doyle failed to deliver on a promise to buy the sculpture, the
collector reported it stolen, said authorities, who put its value at
$600,000.

If convicted, Doyle, 49, could face up to 15 years in prison.

In a bid to get the sculpture back, Alexander won a court order requiring
Spanierman Gallery, which bought and sold the piece last year, to disclose
the identity of a private buyer in Hong Kong. The gallery has appealed.

Alexander "hopes that this indictment will assist him in the return from
Spanierman of this important Degas sculpture," said his attorney, Robert S.
Cohen.

The gallery's attorney, Peter R. Stern, said it cleared the piece with an
international database of stolen art before making the transaction.

"The only thing that is absolutely clear here is that Spanierman bought the
sculpture in good faith and acquired good title to the sculpture," he said.

http://www.silive.com/