LOS ANGELES — The art dealer Douglas Chrismas, who has a decades-long track record of discovering major artists and an equally lengthy history of not paying artists in full for their sales, has been arrested on charges of embezzlement. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges, which carry a sentence of up to 15 years in federal prison. The indictment, filed on March 16, 2020, was unsealed on Tuesday. In it, Chrismas is accused of redirecting about $265,000 in funds from the bankruptcy estate of Ace Gallery, which he opened in Los Angeles in 1967, to a separate corporation that he owned. Chrismas’s bankruptcy lawyer, Jonathan Shenson, did not respond to requests for comment this week and it was not clear who was representing Chrismas in the criminal case.

Source: New York Times July 29, 2021 22:29 UTC