Harold Gordon, Wire Fraud, Connecticut 2019

A notorious Connecticut art dealer has been victimized by a Massachusetts man who defrauded him out of $89,500 in a brazen wire fraud scheme.

Harold Gordon, 71, of Templeton, Massachusetts, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer in New Haven to five years of probation for defrauding a respected Connecticut art dealer.

According to court documents and statements made in court, in approximately October 2012, Gordon began communicating by phone and email with the art dealer to induce him to purchase a tall antique desk, commonly known as a 'secretary desk.'

Gordon falsely represented to the art dealer that the desk was decorated and dedicated as a Civil War memorial for a Connecticut soldier who died at the Battle of Antietam while fighting for the Union Army.

The art dealer examined the secretary desk at Gordon's Massachusetts residence, took several subsequent steps to confirm the desk's authenticity, and then purchased the desk from Gordon for $64,500 in three separate checks.

After completing this transaction, the art dealer sold the desk to the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford for a significant profit and sent Gordon an additional payment of $25,000.

In February 2018, third parties made inquiries to the art dealer about the authenticity of the secretary desk, and the art dealer contacted Gordon, who admitted to refurbishing and decorating the desk himself, creating the false narrative about the desk's history, and targeting the art dealer due to his respected stature in the American folk art community.

The art dealer then made full restitution to the Wadsworth Atheneum.

Judge Meyer ordered Gordon to pay restitution of $84,500 to the art dealer.

Gordon pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud on January 29, 2019.

The matter was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Chen.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ct/pr/massachusetts-man-who-defrauded-connecticut-art-dealer-sentenced