FBI: Birmingham art dealer faked lung transplant to rob seniors in $1.6 million fraud scheme

(Detroit Free Press) For years, Wendy Beard ran a lucrative Birmingham art gallery she inherited from her millionaire father.

But along the way, the FBI says, she got greedy — so greedy that she scammed seniors by taking their rare art on consignment, selling it and then keeping all the profits, including a mural-sized Ansel Adams photograph she sold for $440,000 without ever telling the owner.

When the 82-year-old owner of the photo tried to get the picture back, the FBI says, Beard came up with a story: She was in the hospital getting a double lung transplant and was too sick to deal with the request.

None of it was true, the FBI says. .............(more)

https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/oakland/2022/10/21/birmingham-art-halsted-consignment-fraud/69578698007/