- NEW YORK: A New York City art gallery director will spend weekends in jail for four months after being convicted of selling millions of dollars’ worth of works without telling their owners.
Leigh Morse apologized “for causing people pain and suffering” before she was sentenced Tuesday. She’s free until Aug. 6. She also has to pay about $1.6 million in restitution.
Morse was convicted in April of scheming to defraud four artists’ estates. The trial brought Robert De Niro to the witness stand because Morse was accused — but acquitted — of a grand larceny charge involving his father’s estate.
The case stemmed from former gallery owner Lawrence Salander’s $120 million in swindles of his star-studded clientele. Salander pleaded guilty and is in prison.
Morse later opened her own gallery.