Geoffrey Berman, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. Photo: John Taggart/Bloomberg

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan have charged a former London and Miami-based art dealer with defrauding investors and collectors out of more than $20 million in an alleged scheme to prop up his business.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York on Friday announced the unsealing of a criminal complaint against Inigo Philbrick, who prosecutors said specialized in post-war and contemporary fine art sales before going on the run late last year.

Inigo Philbrick. Photo: Getty Images

According to the complaint, Philbrick, 33, made "material misrepresentations and omissions" to New York-area art collectors, investors and lenders over the course of four years, passing himself off as a dealer of valuable pieces and selling more than 100% ownership in the works without clients' knowledge. Prosecutors alleged that Philbrick sold the artworks as collateral on loans and never disclosed the ownership interests of third parties to buyers and lenders.

Philbrick, who is a U.S. citizen, had been a fugitive since the fall of 2019, when he fled to the South Pacific nation of Vanuatu after defaulting on a $14 million loan, prosecutors said. He was arrested Thursday on charges of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, and was transported to Guam, where he is expected to be presented in federal court June 15.

"You can't sell more than 100 percent ownership in a single piece of art, which Philbrick allegedly did, among other scams," U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said in a statement announcing the charges. "When his schemes began to unravel, Philbrick allegedly fled the country. Now he is in U.S. custody and facing justice."

Among the notable pieces connected to the alleged scheme were works by Jean-Michel Basquiat and Christopher Wool, as well as an untitled 2012 painting by Rudolf Stingel depicting artist Pablo Picasso.

Prosecutors said that Philbrick's alleged crimes came to light last year, when lenders and investors discovered that he had provided them with false records. After investors filed civil lawsuits in multiple jurisdictions, Philbrick stopped responding to the suits and shuttered his galleries in London and Miami, Berman's office said.

Flight records obtained by investigators showed that he had departed the U.S. around the time the press began reporting on the litigation and had been residing in Vanuatu since October 2019.

"Mr. Philbrick allegedly sought out high-dollar art investors, sold pieces he didn't own, and played games with millions of dollars in other people's money," William F. Sweeney Jr., assistant director in charge of the FBI in New York, said in a statement.

"If convicted, he might have to trade in his jet-set life for a drab federal prison cell," Sweeney said.

Wire fraud carries a maximum prison term of 20 years, and the aggravated identity theft charge carries a mandatory sentence of two years in prison.

As of Friday afternoon, there was no defense attorney listed in the case, and Philbrick could not immediately be reached for comment.

This case is being handled by the money laundering and transnational criminal enterprises unit of the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's Office, with Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jessica K. Feinstein and Cecilia E. Vogel in charge of the prosecution.

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