Press Releases
LOCAL ART GALLERY OWNERS CHARGED IN ART FRAUD SCHEME
September 17, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CHRISTOPHER BREITHOFF, 35, and CONSTANCE “CONNIE” BREITHOFF, 60, both of Covington, Louisiana, were charged for crimes involving a scheme to defraud customers of the Barlow Art Gallery and Transitions, announced U. S. Attorney Jim Letten.
CHRISTOPHER BREITHOFF and his mother CONSTANCE BREITHOFF were charged in a Bill of Information for Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371.
Since 2004, defendants CHRISTOPHER BREITHOFF and CONSTANCE BREITHOFF owned and operated the Barlow Art Gallery and Transitions, (“Barlow”), 3523 Highway 190, Mandeville, Louisiana. From 1999 to 2005, defendants operated a Barlow location at 805 Royal Street in the French Quarter, New Orleans, Louisiana.
According to the Bill of Information filed in federal court, the defendants devised a scheme to defraud Barlow customers through various misrepresentations. Specifically, the BREITHOFFs would purchase, in bulk, Chinese paintings from wholesale distributors knowing that the paintings would be resold by Barlow as original works of local and regional emerging artists. CONSTANCE BREITHOFF concocted fictional artist identities, biographies, and unique signatures to mask the true nature and origin of the Chinese paintings. In some instances, CONSTANCE BREITHOFF would paint over any existing signatures on the Chinese artwork and would then paint the bogus artist’s unique signature.
The BREITHOFFs and employees of Barlow would misrepresent the true artist’s identity to its customers and would provide Barlow customers with fictional written biographies of the non-existent artists that defendants created. Defendants would advertise on their website and represent to their customers in person that artwork sold at Barlow was painted by “hand-picked local and regional artists” and by “emerging artists” knowing that to be untrue.
Further, CHRISTOPHER BREITHOFF, CONSTANCE BREITHOFF, and employees of Barlow would mail a Certificate of Authenticity along with a description of the fictional artist to the customer. Further, some employees of Barlow would represent to customers that the artwork sold at Barlow would likely appreciate in value as the artist became more popular.
While the Bill of Information only charges a few specific transactions, the FBI and the U. S. Attorney’s Office are aware that this conduct was widespread over the course of several years, and potential victims are asked to contact the U. S. Attorney’s Office Victim Witness Coordinator at (504) 680-3000 or the FBI Victim Witness Coordinator at (504) 816-3000.
CHRISTOPHER BREITHOFF and CONSTANCE BREITHOFF will be ordered to appear before a federal magistrate judge to be formally arraigned on this Bill of Information. If convicted, the BREITHOFFs face a maximum penalty of five (5) years, followed by up to three (3) years supervised release, and a $250,000.00 fine.
U. S. Attorney Letten reiterated that a Bill of Information is merely a charging document and that the guilt of the defendants must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
This matter was investigated by special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, New Orleans Division.
The prosecution of this case is being handled by Assistant U. S. Attorney Brian M. Klebba who is the Computer and High Intellectual Property Coordinator for the U. S. Attorney’s Office.
