Ex-gallery director convicted in NYC art fraud case that cast Robert De Niro as witness

Jennifer Peltz The Canadian Press 04/06/2011 14:58

De Niro is pictured with his father, also called Robert De Niro, in the 70s. The abstract expressionist died in 1993

A former art gallery director was convicted Wednesday in an art fraud case that brought Robert De Niro to a witness stand to discuss a role he generally plays behind the scenes: artist's son.

Leigh Morse was found guilty of scheming to defraud four artists' estates by selling their works without telling them. But she was acquitted of a more serious grand larceny charge that specifically involved the estate of De Niro's artist father.

The charges against Morse stemmed from a more sweeping case against her former boss, now-imprisoned ex-gallery owner and admitted swindler Lawrence Salander. Morse's lawyer said she had nothing to do with Salander's $120 million scheme.

Morse, 55, could face up to four years in prison but won't necessarily get any time behind bars at her sentencing, set for June 3.

Morse "systematically looted the estates of her clients over a period of many years," Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. said in a statement.

While working at the now-shuttered Salander-O'Reilly Galleries LLC, Morse kept artists' estates in the dark about sales of more than 80 works, dissembling even after some estates began inquiring where the artworks were, prosecutors said.

Morse was acquitted of pocketing $77,000 in proceeds from selling two paintings by De Niro's father, the late Robert De Niro Sr.

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