New review of FAKE in Soteria Magazine

FAKE was just reviewed in the latest issue of Soteria, a UK lifestyle magazine. The reviewer described it as "a fascinating and totally enjoyable read," and seemed to have enjoyed it.

This magazine employs a star-based rating system, and awarded FAKE 7.8 stars. This specificiy is due to the fact that each book is rated on several different criteria, such as "writing," "interest," etc. FAKE might have received a higher rating except for the fact that Soteria, which is targeted at the youth market, evaluates books on whether they contain a positive role model. In this category, my book scored very poorly: 1/2 Star.

I can't say I disagree. The book wasn't meant to encourage anyone to follow my example. At least they liked the writing.

Speaking at the 2007 International Appraisal Conference

I recently accepted an invitation to speak in July at the American Society of Appraisers 2007 International Appraisal Conference in Hollywood. The topic of my book FAKE fits in well with this year's theme, which centers around fakes and forgeries. It should be interesting.

Appraising is not an easy job. Art appraisers are often hired to do insurance appraisals, and I imagine that an appraiser facing a faked painting finds himself in a difficult situation. The client, who assumes the artwork is real, is paying the appraiser to attest to the art's value in case it is ever lost or damaged. The appraiser is then professionally obligated to shatter the client's expectations by relaying bad news.

The woman who booked me for this event, who is also a full-time appraiser, told me this sort of thing happens all the time, and is becoming increasingly common. Reputable appraisers will never sign off on things that aren't real, and they're often hired to make their clients unhappy.

I don't think many appraisers are speculating on unvetted art on eBay, but I'm sure some of their clients are. I'm hoping to shed a little light on what goes in in the online world, and provide some advice for how to avoid being taken.

My prosecutor is now a criminal defense attorney

As I describe in FAKE, my eBay fraud case was prosecuted by a team led by two Assistant US Attorneys in Sacramento: Michael Malacek and Christopher Sonderby. Because my plea agreement was contingent on my testifying against my accomplices, and one of them went on the lam and evaded arrest for over two years, it took several years for me to be sentenced after I pled guilty. This was a period of great uncertainty for me -- I'd taken responsibility for what I did and had tried to move on with my life, but my ultimate fate shrouded by uncertainty. Although the prosecutors had agreed to recommend to the judge that I be sentenced to a term of probation (and give up my law license, and pay $75,000 in restitution), the final decision was not theirs to make. The judge would be free to sentence me however he saw fit, and judges are under no obligation to follow prosecutors recommendations.

While I endured this lengthy wait for my sentencing hearing, Malacek and Sonderby both moved on in their careers. Malacek now works as in-house counsel for a biotechnology firm in the Bay Area, and Sonderby transferred to the San Jose office of the US Attorney, and was eventually appointed by President Bush to head a DOJ intellectual property enforcement unit in Thailand. They're both very good attorneys and I'm sure they're doing well in their new positions.

Meanwhile, back in Sacramento, my case was assigned to a new prosecutor, Patrick Hanly, a man I'd never met. Hanly assured us that our deal was intact and my attorney told me I had nothing to worry about, but it still made me nervous that my case had been assigned to someone different. I'd spent many hours in meetings with Sonderby and Malacek, and I didn't have any sort of feel for Hanly's opinion of me or my plea agreement. He told my attorney that I'd "gotten a very good deal."

When I finally stood in court on my day of reckoning, over three years after I'd pled guilty, I became terrified when the judge expressed skepticism about whether I deserved the terms of my plea bargain. For a moment, I thought he was going to reject the prosecution's recommendation and send me to prison.

But Hanly came through, and assured the judge that my cooperation had been valuable enough to warrant the lenience the government had requested. The judge honored the terms of my plea bargain and I walked out of court that day very thankful for the way Hanly had stepped up to the plate on my behalf.

I recently learned that Hanly has moved on from the US Attorney's office, and charted a course that is rather unusual for a former federal prosecutor: He's become a criminal defense attorney specializing in white collar crimes. It's a bold move. Criminal defense attorneys are not generally held in high esteem, and advocating for the accused is often an unpleasant task. But the job of defense attorneys is every bit as important, and sometimes even as heroic, as that of the prosecutors they face in court. We live in a nation governed by laws, and it takes both sides to achieve justice. When the federal government decides to prosecute someone, it has unlimited resources at its disposal, and the person who has been accused deserves good legal representation. Although I don't anticipate ever again needing the services of a criminal defense attorney, if I did, I would want someone like Hanly in my corner. I'm sure he'll do well in his new role.

Grandma's old painting sells for $600,000

I love stories like this. A woman hoping to raise a little money to pay her daughter's college tuition decided to sell a few things she'd inherited from her Italian grandmother. One of these items, a painting the woman had been storing in her garage, sold for over $600,000 due to speculation that it might have been done by the Italian old master Pier Francesco Mola.

The woman had no idea. For her, it was like winning the lottery.

Aside from the heartwarming story of a regular person striking it rich unexpectedly, a couple of things are interesting about this. First, the auction house the woman used, Harvey Clars in Oakland, California, is not the sort of place one would expect an item like this to be sold. It's a reputable and well-established house but it doesn't typically have the privilege of offering six-figure paintings. In fact, the piece was the most valuable thing Clars had ever sold. It was as much a windfall for the auction house as it was for the owner.

More shocking is the fact that the sale price was fueled entirely by speculation. The auction house employees figured the unsigned painting might have been done by one of the Italian old masters, but they didn't guess it was by Mola. They didn't make any claims or give any hints about its authorship and started the bidding at $5,000. When the price was driven up to the six-figure range by telephone bids from bidders in France and New York, the auctioneer was as surprised as everyone else. The painting has not been authenticated or even inspected by Mola experts, and no one can be sure whether it is really by the artist. The anonymous New York-based buyer is taking a big chance, especially considering that no bona fide painting by Mola has ever sold for more than $2.8 million.

One can only wonder what might have happened if the woman had taken the painting to Christies or Sotheby's and someone had identified it as a possible Mola before putting it on the block. Would it have attracted higher bids? Who can say?

The whole thing unfolded in a very similar way to my own ill-fated and regrettable eBay auction for the infamous fake Diebenkorn. I put the painting up for auction, showed some pictures of it, and made no claims about who may have painted it. Diebenkorn aficionados spotted it and decided to speculate. In my case, of course, I knew the painting was fake and I was hoping to attract speculation by playing dumb. But the mechanics of auction house art speculation work the same way on eBay as they do in the real world, and the end result of my auction was similar to that of the Mola: A very high bid was placed on a painting that carried no guarantee of authenticity. Sometimes bidding wars can be fueled by the naiveté - or perceived naiveté - of the seller, as much or more so than rock-solid assurances.

Fetterman still selling art?

Regina Hackett, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer art critic who wrote and interesting article about my book FAKE and its unusual connection to her city and newspaper, has posted an equally fascinating blog entry about my former partner-in-crime Ken Fetterman, and what he may be up to these days.

It seems he may still be selling art, at least on the side. This doesn't surprise me.

I can only say this: Caveat Emptor.

As an aside, if you're ever interested in what's been written about FAKE in blogs, or seeing an archive of coverage in the mainstream media, I try to keep track of it on the media page, which you're free to peruse at any time.

Sunday Times of London discovers shill bidding

Last weekend The Sunday Times of London reported that shill bidding is widespread on eBay. This really isn't breaking news -- the New York Times revealed shill bidding to the world when it delved into my eBay activities back in 2000.

In fact, shill bidding is probably less of a problem now than it was then. eBay has developed new techniques to combat it, and increased penalties for those caught.

But obviously, it still happens. What's most interesting about this story is that an undercover Times reporter got one of eBay UK's biggest sellers to admit to it on tape. There are links to the recordings on the Times website above the story.

If you never want to be a victim of online auction bid rigging, follow these simple rules: Decide how much you're willing to pay for an item and then place a single bid for that amount (don't get into bidding wars). If you can, bid on an auction at the last possible moment, so no one can react to your bid. If you do these things, you'll never pay more than you should.