Thomas Doyle, Wire Fraud, New York 2025

Thomas Doyle, a 68-year-old resident of Connecticut, was arrested yesterday morning in Norwalk, Connecticut, and presented in the Southern District of New York after being charged with wire fraud in connection with a scheme to defraud the owner of the painting 'Mother and Child on a Hammock' by Gustave Courbet.

According to the indictment, Doyle introduced himself to the art dealer, referred to as Victim-1, over email in December 2022, representing himself as a legitimate art dealer. Over the next few years, Doyle and Victim-1 communicated regarding artworks, with Doyle making various misrepresentations about himself, including falsely stating that he managed the 'art side' of a family trust with assets worth billions of dollars.

In June 2024, Doyle and Victim-1 began discussing the Hammock, which Victim-1 owned and was selling. Victim-1 agreed to let Doyle take custody of the Hammock to facilitate its viewing by a potential buyer. Doyle then told Victim-1 that he had a potential buyer for the Hammock, and Victim-1 authorized Doyle to sell the painting on his behalf for $550,000.

However, instead of selling the Hammock for the agreed-upon price, Doyle's associate offered the painting for consignment to a Manhattan gallery, which ultimately sold the painting on October 1, 2024, for $125,000 to an art collector. Doyle never remitted any proceeds from the sale of the Hammock to Victim-1, spending all the proceeds on personal expenses and his own debts.

DOYLE is charged with one count of wire fraud, which carries a maximum prison term of 20 years. The case is being handled by the Office's Illicit Finance and Money Laundering Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorney C. will prosecute the case.

U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton praised the outstanding work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Art Crime Team in uncovering the scheme and bringing Doyle to justice.

Doyle's previous conviction in 2011 for a separate art-related fraud makes him a recidivist offender, and his actions demonstrate a brazen disregard for the trust that exists in the art market.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/recidivist-fraudster-arrested-stealing-gustave-courbet-painting