Wendy Halsted Beard, a Detroit-area gallery owner, was sentenced to over five years in prison for defrauding collectors of $1.6 million worth of fine art photographs.
From March 2019 to October 2022, Beard agreed to sell over 100 fine art photographs but instead kept the profits, fabricating excuses including a fictitious coma.
Some of the most acclaimed photographers of the 20th century, including Diane Arbus and Richard Avedon, had their works entrusted to Beard, who sold them illegally.
Beard's most notable fraud involved a mural-size print by Ansel Adams, which she sold for $440,000, far above the commission agreed with the original owner.
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