U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts
A Los Angeles gallery owner who was sold a pair of phony Andy Warhol paintings by a man whose wife mysteriously vanished on New Year’s Day described him as a convincing smooth-talker who can’t be trusted.
“He knows how to play the legal system, he knows how to play everyone and everything,” Ron Rivlin told The Daily Beast. “He’s very calculated… the guy’s a total nut but he’s also a bit of a genius… The fact of the matter is, he scammed me.”
Brian Walshe, 46, was arrested Monday and is being held on $500,000 bail after Massachusetts police said he intentionally misled them during their investigation into the unexplained Jan. 1 disappearance of 39-year-old real estate executive Ana Walshe. The pair, who live in the Boston suburb of Cohasset, have been married for about seven years and have three sons, aged from 2 to 6.