2 stole ID to defraud Sotheby’s of $5M
Identity was used to bid millions of dollars on famous paintings in fall 2017
An interior designer in Florida and a fine art consultant in New York stole a woman’s identity and used it to bid millions of dollars on famous paintings and defraud the Sotheby’s auction house, federal prosecutors allege in court filings.
Antonio DiMarco and Joakim von Ditmar are accused of using the identity of a wealthy, 80-year-old retiree from Bal Harbor to place winning bids on two paintings at a Sotheby’s contemporary art auction in the fall of 2017.
The South Florida Sun Sentinel previously reported that Fort Lauderdale police arrested DiMarco, 44, of Hallandale Beach on Oct. 10. He is accused of stealing more than a million dollars from wealthy South Florida clients and is facing charges of of grand theft, money laundering and obtaining property worth more than $50,000 by fraud. He is being held without bond in a Broward County jail.
In the federal case, DiMarco and von Ditmar are accused of snagging an untitled Mark Rothko for $6.4 million and “No. 12” by Ad Reinhardt for $1.16 million.
The pair, though, were quickly found out and never took possession of the art, authorities said. Sotheby’s became suspicious after a representative called the retiree and she disavowed any knowledge of the sales, a spokeswoman for the auction house said.
She didn’t even collect art, she later told investigators.
“Our discussions with the purchasers raised significant suspicion and concern for the elderly client they purported to represent and we felt it was necessary to contact the FBI,” Sotheby’s said in an emailed statement. “We are pleased that the appropriate action has been taken and the victim has been protected.” DiMarco and Von Ditmar, an art consultant and fashion designer, are charged with wire fraud conspiracy and aggravated identity theft.
A lawyer who represented DiMarco said he is no longer involved in the case and doesn’t know who represents him now.
Von Ditmar did not respond to an email seeking comment. His defense attorney, Mark Gombiner, declined to comment.
Sotheby’s initially took a $5 million loss on the auction of the two paintings because it was contractually obligated to pay the seller, according to prosecutors, but the Manhattan auction house said it recovered much of that money after reselling the Rothko.
It plans to reoffer the Reinhardt piece for sale.
The FBI said in court papers that DiMarco gave Sotheby’s a letter — purportedly signed by the retiree — authorizing DiMarco to bid on her behalf.
The woman later told the FBI that DiMarco showed her a letter that he claimed would merely provide him access to the auction, and that she signed it without reading it.
The woman told investigators that she hired DiMarco in 2014 to decorate her home in Bal Harbor, but that he took more than $400,000 from her without performing most of the services.
The FBI said Ditmar and Von Ditmar tried at least two other times to buy works of art using the retiree’s identity.
Each attempt failed, the criminal complaint said, when they couldn’t come up the money to complete the purchase.
“This really was not a good fraud,” said Robert Wittman, a former FBI agent who founded the bureau’s Art Crime Team. “They clearly did not think this all the way through.”