Fraud Case Stymies Art Show
NYPost.com
March 6, 2009
Artist Chris Burden – who had himself shot in the arm with a 22-caliber rifle in 1971 and then had himself crucified with his hands nailed to the roof of a Volkswagen – had to postpone tomorrow’s opening of his show at the Gagosian Gallery in LA. Dealer Larry Gagosian bought $3 million worth of gold – 100 1-kilo (2.2 pounds) gold ingots – for a piece Burden titled “One Ton, One Kilo.” But the gold bricks never arrived. Gagosian made the purchase from Stanford Coins & Bullion, a company owned by Allen Stanford, the Texas billionaire recently charged by the SEC with a “massive, ongoing fraud.” The gold bars have been frozen with Stanford’s other assets. Gagosian went to court to unfreeze his gold, arguing that his transaction “represents a straightforward spot purchase of a tangible commodity.” But the dealer still has no bullion, and Burden has gone back to the drawing board.
photo: photogrowth.com