Michigan art dealer pleads guilty in $1.5M fraud cause
Michigan art dealer pleads guilty in massive fraud case
A Metro Detroit art dealer has pleaded guilty to a wire fraud charge after authorities said she stole artwork from clients, sold it without their knowledge, and then deceived the owners.
DETROIT (FOX 2) - Last fall, federal authorities raided a Franklin woman's home in connection to a massive fraud investigation that totaled more than $1.5 million. Now, the woman charged as admitted her role and pleaded guilty to the charges.
Wendy Beard, 58, pleaded guilty to wire fraud after she was charged last fall in a multi-year scheme that involved her receiving fine art, selling it, and then keeping the profits while deceiving the owners of the art.
Beard was an art dealer and owner of Wendy Halsted Gallery in Birmingham. According to investigators, she's accused of stealing from her clients while preying on the elderly in a scheme that went on for several years.
Beard's accused of embezzling the proceeds and then lying to the victims by providing multiple excuses including exaggerating the severity of her own health problems, including claiming (1) to have recently been in a coma and (2) to have received a double-lung transplant.
In other instances, Beard told her victims that there was a lack of interest among potential purchasers— despite having already sold the photographs in question. Beard also created fake "employee" identities which she used to correspond with her victims in a further effort to deceive them. In the plea agreement, Beard acknowledged defrauding more than ten victims over the course of her scheme.
She further admitted that at least one victim was vulnerable due to the victim’s advanced age. According to court records, the government asserts that the losses associated with the scheme are at least $1.5 million
Beard is due to be sentenced on Dec. 12.