Bankrupt Manhattan Art Gallery Accused of Ripping Off Clients

Nov. 16, 2017, 8:52 PM UTC

Paintings by Marc Chagall, Wassily Kandinsky and the Italian surrealist Giorgio de Chirico were allegedly used by a New York art dealer to lure investors and collectors into paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for works he never owned or didn’t have a right to sell.

At least three lawsuits filed this week against the dealer, Ezra Chowaiki, accuse him and the Park Avenue gallery in which he’s the president and a minority shareholder, of carrying out a variety of frauds. The gallery, Chowaiki & Co. Fine Art Ltd., filed for bankruptcy on Nov. 13.

David Dangoor, the gallery’s ...

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