Wendy
Halsted Beard, a Michigan art dealer, was arrested earlier this month and charged for allegedly scamming seniors out of more than $1.6 million in profit from selling art they owned at her gallery in the Detroit suburb of Birmingham including The Tetons and the Snake River, Grand Teton National Park by Ansel Adams. Photo courtesy of FBI/Court Documents

Investigators said Beard had taken fine art photography on consignment and sold them while pocketing the profits. She has also been accused of selling artwork to a victim but never delivering it after receiving payment.

Court documents obtained by UPI show that Beard posted a $10,000 bond on the day of her arrest. It was not immediately clear if she has since been released from custody.

The FBI alleged in court documents that Beard, who inherited the gallery from her father, had carried out her scheme to defraud victims since 2017. Her father, Thomas Halsted, died in 2018.

The investigation into Beard began when the Birmingham Police Department received multiple complaints alleging that the art dealer had never returned photographs at the end of the period of consignment. Birmingham police referred the complaints to the FBI.

“Throughout the course of the investigation, potentially dozens of victims were identified, this affidavit highlights just a few of these victims’ interactions with Beard,” an FBI agent wrote in the court documents.

Artwork sold by Beard included a “mural-sized” photograph by Ansel Adams titled “The Tetons and the Snake River, Grand Teton National Park, 1942.”

It was among nearly $1 million in fine art photographs taken on consignment from an 82-year-old victim, identified in court documents as Victim 1.

The photograph was allegedly sold for $440,000 and had previously been appraised with a value of $625,000 in 2016.

The victim provided the FBI with emails in which Beard had said she had taken the print to try to sell it in Jackson, Wyoming, but was not successful.

When the consignment period expired, Beard signed a consignment agreement with a gallery in Jackson to sell the print, which the gallery purchased on behalf of a private collector, the FBI said.

Bank records show that a $440,000 interstate wire transfer was sent for the purchase in June 2020.

The print changed hands a few more times before it was ultimately bought by a private client for $685,000 to be displayed at their residence in Idaho.

“According to Victim 1, they were never notified by Beard of the sale of their Ansel Adams’s photograph, and they subsequently never received any proceeds of the sale,” court documents read.

“Victim 1 made multiple attempts to have their photographs returned by Beard, who provided Victim 1 with excuses on why the artwork could not be returned. Often the excuses were pertaining to Beard’s alleged poor pulmonary health conditions.”

Court documents show that Beard used alias email accounts purporting to be assistants at the gallery when she allegedly claimed to have undergone a double lung transplant as an excuse for not returning the artwork to the owner.

“Multiple victim’s reported receiving messages from these email accounts with statements claiming Beard was in the hospital or in a coma and could not be contacted directly,” the FBI agent wrote in the court documents.

“Based on my experience and training, I believe Beard created these and other fictitious assistants and email addresses in furtherance of the fraud and to create sympathy from her victims and justify why she had not returned their artwork.”

The FBI said in court documents that there is no record of Beard ever having been the recipient of a donated organ.

Beard is also accused of having stolen a photograph by Ansel Adams after it was taken on consignment from an 89-year-old man with Alzheimer’s disease, prosecutors said.

That victim, identified as Victim 2, had also given Beard pictures by other renowned artists including Ion Zupco, Arnold Newman and Jerry Uelsma.

When the victim sought to have the photographs returned, Beard dropped the photographs off at a local framer to be framed. When the victim’s family received the pictures back from the framers, they noticed that the signed Ansel Adams photograph, titled “Tenaya Creek,” was missing his signature.

“Further, a second image purporting to be a signed photograph by Ansel Adams titled ‘Siesta Lake Portfolio’ was, in actuality, an altogether different Ansel Adams photo known as ‘Moon and Half Dome,'” the court documents read.

Detectives with the Birmingham Police Department interviewed Beard at her residence in May and she agreed to return the two Ansel Adams photographs to Victim 2.

“Beard walked into another room of Beard’s residence and retrieved three wrapped and framed photographs, insisting they were the missing photographs belonging to Victim 2,” the court documents read.

“The detective unwrapped the photos, determined they were still the incorrect pictures, and left without taking any photographs.”

Beard dropped off two photographs to Birmingham police in June, which were sent to the Ansel Adams Gallery in Yosemite, California for authentication. The gallery said that the two pictures prints she provided were reproduction prints that could be purchased in its gift shop for $375 each.

The FBI obtained records from Paypal that show Beard bought a photograph titled “Tenaya Creek, Dogwood, Rain – Unframed / No Color” from the Ansel Adams Gallery for $405.26.

The FBI added that numerous other victims were interviewed by FBI agents as a part of the investigation.

“During the course of this investigation, over 100 rare fine art photographs with a combined estimated value of approximately $1.6 million have been identified as being consigned to Beard and not returned or sold to victims without being delivered,” the court documents read.

“Bank records and other business records indicate there are likely be more victims who have yet to be interviewed.”

Those who may be a victim or have additional information about potential fraud involving this defendant are asked to contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or submit a tip online.