Jeweler Ralph Esmerian gets 6-year prison sentence

26 July 2011

click to enlarge

Esmerian used this $2.4m Boucheron 'Endymion Butterfly Brooch' to secure a loan. He allegedly stole or double pledged at least $40 million in assets used to collateralize loans.

The former owner of luxury jeweler Fred Leighton who was once a major donor to New York's American Folk Art Museum, Ralph O. Esmerian, was sentenced on July 22 to 6 years in federal prison for wire fraud, bankruptcy fraud, and other charges.

He is accused of double-pledging tens of millions of dollars in collateral to get $210 million in loans to buy and operate the jewelry retailer.

Esmerian used at least $217 million in loans from Merrill Lynch Mortgage Capital Inc., Acorn Capital Group LLC and other sources in order to purchase Fred Leighton and then allegedly embazzled jewelry after he made the company file for bankruptcy.

Esmerian, 71, also was ordered to forfeit $20 million and do 1,800 hours of community service by U.S. District Judge Denise Cote who told Esmerian he had "lived a life of fraud and deceit on a massive scale."

"Ralph Esmerian tried to game the financial system and the bankruptcy process for years to finance his businesses," Manhattan District Attorney Preet Bharara said. "As a result of his frauds, the lenders who trusted him have lost tens of millions of dollars."

Read more at Courthouse News Service

More News Feed Headlines

Harry W. and Mary Margaret Anderson, and their daughter Mary Patricia Anderson Pence, standing in front of Franz Kline, Figure 8, 1952 and Mark Rothko, Pink and White over Red, 1957. Both are works being donated to Stanford University.

Stanford to Showcase Anderson Collection in $30 Million New Building

Stanford University has chosen the New York-based architectural firm Ennead Architects to design the structure that will house the University’s recent acquisition, the impressive Anderson ...

Elizabeth Taylor’s Precious Jewels, Gowns Take the Crown at Auction

Seven world records were set at the jewel auction of the late Hollywood screen legend, and ardent jewelry lover, Elizabeth Taylor, that took place at Christie’s New York this week. On Tuesday, 80 singular lots were offered and all 80 quickly sold, fetching a total of $115.9 million, making it the most valuable private collection of jewels ever sold at auction. On Thursday, a Christian Dior evening gown of silver encrusted brocade swept to $362,500...

Henry Koerner (American, 1915-1991) Under the Overpass, 1949. Oil on masonite, 30 x 38 inches. Courtesy of Jonathan Boos.

Well-attended American Art Fair Shines in New Venue

The fourth incarnation of The American Art Fair triumphed at a dazzling new venue from Nov. 28 to Dec. 1, 2011. Held for the first time at the Bohemian National Hall, a Renaissance Revival style building on Manhattan's Upper East Side, the focused fair featured 17 leading gallery exhibitors offering prime examples of historic American art.

Julien Hudson, 1811-1844 American. Creole Boy With A Moth, 1835, oil on canvas, courtesy of a private collection; photo courtesy of Fodera Fine Art Conservation, Ltd.

First Retrospective of Early African American Artist Julien Hudson at Worcester Art Museum

A groundbreaking exhibition opened Dec. 9 at the Worcester Art Museum entitled “In Search of Julien Hudson: Free Artist of Color in Pre-Civil War New Orleans.” Julien Hudson (1811-1844) is the second-earliest documented portrait painter of African descent to work in the United States. Little-known today, Hudson died an untimely, somewhat mysterious death, and only fragments of his oeuvre survive to tell his story.