A Birmingham art dealer has been sentenced to more than five years in prison for an alleged scheme involving rare photographs worth millions of dollars.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Michigan, Wendy Halstead Beard, 59, was sentenced to five years and three months in prison after pleading guilty to wire fraud.
Prosecutors say the multi-year scheme took place between March 2019 and October 2022 where she allegedly sold rare photographs given to her on consignment and then kept the proceeds while lying to the owners about the status.
Dozens of customers, including many of whom were elderly, were victimized, according to prosecutors.
They say that Beard would take those photos, sell them and keep the proceeds for herself instead of giving the proceeds to the consignors.
On at least one occasion, prosecutors say Beard had two victims for one photograph – never providing the purchaser with the photograph while also failing to pay the consigner after the sale.
They also say that she "repeatedly lied" and invested different excuses for failing to deliver the photographs or payment – including at one time saying she was in a coma and at another time saying she had a double-lung transplant.
Prosecutors also say that she created fake employee identities which she used to correspond with her victims.
“My office stands ready to investigate and prosecute elder financial abuse in all its forms and will continue to hold perpetrators like Beard accountable for their actions,” United States Attorney Dawn Ison said in a statement. “Beard’s ongoing deception was of a level that we rarely see, even in fraud cases, lying to her customers repeatedly in an attempt to conceal her scheme. Today’s sentence will hopefully bring a measure of closure for the more than three-dozen victims who trusted Wendy Beard with their valuable artwork.”
