{"id":29978,"date":"2018-05-04T11:49:31","date_gmt":"2018-05-04T15:49:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/blog\/?p=29978"},"modified":"2024-04-22T01:24:11","modified_gmt":"2024-04-22T05:24:11","slug":"ezra-chowaiki-pleads-guilty-more-art-world-greed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/2018\/05\/ezra-chowaiki-pleads-guilty-more-art-world-greed\/","title":{"rendered":"Ezra Chowaiki Pleads Guilty – More Art World Greed!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n

The end has come! Manhattan art dealer, Ezra\u00a0Chowaiki<\/a>, pleaded guilty to fraud charges and is facing up to 20 years in prison … though it seems that prosecutors will recommend a term of 4 to 5 years.\u00a0 \u00a0He also agreed to forfeit\u00a0$16 million and 25 works of art obtained during a scheme where he would convince unexpected collectors and dealers to lend money and\/or artworks for a profit but never paid up.\u00a0 Another sad case of greed in the art world.<\/p>\n

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Source<\/strong>:\u00a0Manhattan Art Dealer Faces Federal Prison Over Investor Scam<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

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PREVIOUS RELATED ARTICLE<\/strong><\/p>\n

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In\u00a0Volume 204 of our Comments on the Art Market<\/a>, we briefly covered the charges brought against art dealer, Ezra Chowaiki<\/a>.\u00a0 Since then, more information has come to light regarding the now bankrupt art gallery and its crooked dealer.<\/p>\n

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The court documents regarding the company’s bankruptcy claim\u00a0reveal\u00a0it has less than $300,000 in assists and almost $12 million in claims by victims who were defrauded.<\/p>\n

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Here are some of Chowaiki’s victims<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A Cayman Island company, that is managed by a modern-art dealer, alleges that it was cheated out of $900,000. The deal was that he would purchase a 50% stake in a sculpture which Chowaiki would flip for a quick profit of over $100,000 to the victim. Chowaiki claimed a buyer was already lined up and willing to pay $2.15 million. However, once the money was wired, the victim learned that the work was not being sold by Chowaiki but actually up for auction in London.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sotheby’s had hired the gallery as an agent to purchase “Titine Trovato in Dress and Hat” by Henri Matisse for $12 million. Sotheby’s then had plans to resell the work for $15-$20 million. Before the deal went through, the gallery sold the work to another buyer for $4.75 million. Sotheby’s is seeking damages for the loss.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Carpenter Fine Violins and Collectibles LLC., claims they acquired a 50% stake in a Kandinsky painting for $312,500. What is interesting is that this is the same amount of money “Victim-2” in the lawsuit claims Chowaiki stole; however, there is no information yet that connects these two cases.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The end has come! Manhattan art dealer, Ezra\u00a0Chowaiki, pleaded guilty to fraud charges and is facing up to 20 years in prison … though it seems that prosecutors will recommend a term of 4 to 5 years.\u00a0 \u00a0He also agreed … More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[269,32],"class_list":["post-29978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rehs-contemporary","tag-legal-matters","tag-the-dark-side"],"yoast_head":"\nEzra Chowaiki Pleads Guilty - More Art World Greed!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/2018\/05\/ezra-chowaiki-pleads-guilty-more-art-world-greed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ezra Chowaiki Pleads Guilty - More Art World Greed!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The end has come! Manhattan art dealer, Ezra\u00a0Chowaiki, pleaded guilty to fraud charges and is facing up to 20 years in prison … though it seems that prosecutors will recommend a term of 4 to 5 years.\u00a0 \u00a0He also agreed … More...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/2018\/05\/ezra-chowaiki-pleads-guilty-more-art-world-greed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rehs Galleries\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/RehsGalleriesInc\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-05-04T15:49:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-04-22T05:24:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Alyssa Rehs\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Alyssa Rehs\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rehs.com\\\/eng\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/ezra-chowaiki-pleads-guilty-more-art-world-greed\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rehs.com\\\/eng\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/ezra-chowaiki-pleads-guilty-more-art-world-greed\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Alyssa Rehs\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rehs.com\\\/eng\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7d5c885d99ebbdc550c692bb4595262b\"},\"headline\":\"Ezra Chowaiki Pleads Guilty – More Art World Greed!\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-05-04T15:49:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-04-22T05:24:11+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rehs.com\\\/eng\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/ezra-chowaiki-pleads-guilty-more-art-world-greed\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":363,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rehs.com\\\/eng\\\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Legal Matters\",\"The Dark Side of the Art World\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Rehs Contemporary\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rehs.com\\\/eng\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/ezra-chowaiki-pleads-guilty-more-art-world-greed\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rehs.com\\\/eng\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/ezra-chowaiki-pleads-guilty-more-art-world-greed\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ezra Chowaiki Pleads Guilty - More Art World Greed!\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rehs.com\\\/eng\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-05-04T15:49:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-04-22T05:24:11+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rehs.com\\\/eng\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/ezra-chowaiki-pleads-guilty-more-art-world-greed\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/rehs.com\\\/eng\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/ezra-chowaiki-pleads-guilty-more-art-world-greed\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rehs.com\\\/eng\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/ezra-chowaiki-pleads-guilty-more-art-world-greed\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rehs.com\\\/eng\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Ezra Chowaiki Pleads Guilty – More Art World Greed!\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rehs.com\\\/eng\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rehs.com\\\/eng\\\/\",\"name\":\"Rehs Galleries\",\"description\":\"Offering and acquiring high quality paintings in excellent condition. 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