68-year-old Thomas Doyle has been charged with wire fraud. The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, announced the charges following Doyle’s arrest in Norwalk, Connecticut. According to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, an indictment unsealed in Manhattan federal court accuses Doyle of stealing a Gustave Courbet painting titled “Mother and Child on a Hammock.”
The indictment states that Doyle, who has previous convictions for art fraud, contacted an art dealer using the names “AJ” or “Austin Doyle” and represented himself as managing a billion-dollar family trust. In a press release, it was stated that between December 2022 and March 2023, he allegedly persuaded the owner to transfer the Courbet painting to him, then arranged for it to be sold through an associate for significantly less than the approved price, while providing the owner with false information about the sale.
U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said in a press release that as alleged, Doyle misled the painting’s owner with “a series of brazen lies” to obtain the artwork and keep the profits from its sale. According to prosecutors, Doyle’s associate later brought the Courbet painting to a Manhattan gallery, where it was sold for $125,000, instead of the $550,000 that Doyle had told the owner it had sold for.
Doyle used all of the sale proceeds for personal expenses and outstanding debts, without sending any payment to the painting’s owner. In early March, Doyle admitted in an email that he had misled the owner about what happened to the artwork.
Doyle faces a charge that carries a potential sentence of up to 20 years in prison. The investigation was conducted by the FBI’s Art Crime Team, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Cecilia Vogel is overseeing the prosecution. Jay Clayton acknowledged the work of the Art Crime Team and their role in addressing fraud in the art sector.
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