Opinion ID: 683513
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Bogus Theft Scheme

Text: 4 Shaoul owned a painting entitled Pirate's Cove which he attributed to the turn-of-the-century American artist Albert Pinkham Ryder. According to Edward Purcell, a former employee at Shaoul's antique shop who testified for the government at trial pursuant to a nonprosecution agreement, Shaoul had tried unsuccessfully to find a recognized Ryder expert to authenticate the painting. At Shaoul's direction, Purcell attempted to sell the Ryder painting at leading auction houses in Manhattan, but those houses never agreed to list the painting for auction. 5 On January 6, 1991, Shaoul contacted the police to report a theft from his parked car. The police officer who received the complaint included in his report the notation, petit larceny from auto, indicating that the value of the stolen items was less than $1,000. The report also indicated that Shaoul had reported the theft of three paintings and three vases. By contrast, when Shaoul reported the theft to his insurer, Firemen's Fund, he claimed that four vases and two paintings had been stolen, and sought $715,000 in compensation. 6 According to Purcell, Shaoul told Purcell the next day that there had been a theft over the weekend. When Purcell asked what had been stolen, Shaoul pointed to the Ryder painting hanging on the gallery wall, and said, That. Shaoul then told Purcell to hide the painting in a closet, explaining that Shaoul intended to file an insurance claim for the stolen painting and certain other works of art. 7 Purcell testified that he grew nervous about his role in hiding the Ryder painting. He made an anonymous call to the police and spoke with a detective about the bogus theft; he also contacted a lawyer about the matter. Finally, on January 11, 1991, Purcell photographed the Ryder painting--still hidden inside the closet in Shaoul's shop--next to that day's edition of the New York Times. These photographs established at trial that the Ryder painting was inside Shaoul's shop six days after Shaoul claimed that the painting had been stolen. 8 In other testimony at trial, Purcell described Shaoul's efforts to persuade his insurer that the stolen painting was a genuine Ryder worth $1 million. Purcell said that he witnessed Shaoul asking Louis Liskin, his longtime friend, to write a back-dated letter--dated before the alleged theft--expressing interest in purchasing the Ryder painting for more than $800,000. In return, Shaoul allegedly offered Liskin a ten percent share of the insurance proceeds. Shaoul subsequently submitted the letter to his insurer as proof of the painting's value. 9 Liskin, who also testified at trial pursuant to a nonprosecution agreement with the government, corroborated Purcell's account of the writing and purpose of the back-dated letter. Contrary to his representations in the letter, Liskin testified that he, in fact, believed that the painting was not a genuine Ryder. Indeed, Liskin had co-owned the painting with Shaoul from January 1988 until 1990, when Shaoul purchased Liskin's fifty percent interest in the painting for approximately $18,000. 10 Finally, an art appraiser who had contacted the leading Ryder expert for Shaoul testified on the government's behalf. The expert had repeatedly advised the appraiser that the painting was not a genuine Ryder, and the appraiser had reported this information to Shaoul.