July 20, 2006 – Edelman Arts, a gallery run by 1980s Wall Street raider Asher Edelman, sues for the return of a Titian painting, Saint Sebastian, that it consigned to Salander-O’Reilly in April 2006. The suit also demands damages stemming from the gallery’s failure to sell the painting for a promised $4.25 million, plus interest and attorney’s fees. The lawsuit is discontinued Aug. 17.

Aug. 1, 2006 – Salander-O’Reilly signs an option to purchase Georgia O’Keeffe’s painting Shelton Hotel from Curtis Galleries, Inc., a subsidiary of the gallery’s business partner Curtis Squire, for $7 million. The money is to be transferred in monthly $500,000 installments, with Curtis Galleries retaining title to the painting until the whole amount is paid.

Aug. 23, 2006 – Saundra B. Lane files a complaint with a Massachusetts court stating that Lawrence Salander fell short on one payment for the $9 million Sheeler painting and failed to make two more. Lane asks the court to order Salander to return the Sheeler and hand over the rest of the collateral. Months of back-and-forth with Salander follow; a new payment schedule is agreed upon, but Salander defaults on that also. Lane attempts to track down the collateral but can only locate the two supposed Ryder paintings. An expert declines to authenticate the unsigned works, which are then appraised at a total of $45,000—about $3 million less than Salander had claimed. (1)

Oct. 2006 –Tennis star John McEnroe, who had apprenticed at Salander-O’Reilly for six months in 1993 to learn the art trade, gives Salander $162,500 to invest in a Marsden Hartley painting, Dogtown, that the dealer says will sell for twice the purchase price. The agreement states that McEnroe will be paid $325,000 by March 5, 2007, regardless of whether the work is sold.

Jan. 31, 2007 – Former landlord Paul Rosenberg & Co. sues Salander-O’Reilly for at least $875,493 in arrears and holdover charges, plus attorney’s fees and interest. The company and Elaine Rosenberg also file a complaint demanding their $400,000 from the Stuart Davis sale plus interest.

March 2007 – Art collector Carol F. Cohen, the widow of former Madison Square Garden CEO Alan Cohen, entrusts Lawrence Salander to store 15 artworks worth about $5.8 million while she determines the best way to sell them. Cohen, who auctions three of the works through Christie’s around this time for $2.375 million, expressly tells Salander not to sell her art.

Spring 2007 – Representatives from Renaissance Art Investors go to the gallery to perform an audit of their 300-some works, but are "prevented from doing so in any meaningful way." Upon further investigation, they discover that many pieces cannot be found; others, they are surprised to learn, are to be auctioned at Sotheby's in June.

May 2007 – John McEnroe sues Lawrence Salander, saying that the only proceeds he saw from the Hartley sale was a $50,000 check, which bounced. Salander gives him $200,000, but tells the court that McEnroe’s $162,500 was “nothing more than a loan” because the tennis legend knew the Hartley had already been sold at the time of their agreement. Three weeks later, arguing that the additional $37,500 he returned to McEnroe constituted a “usurious” rate of interest, Salander demands that McEnroe repay that amount.

May 9, 2007 – A New York court orders Salander-O’Reilly to pay $665,860 to Dougall Arts Ltd., a British art firm, for the 2004 purchase of a St. Jerome statue. A settlement had already been reached, however, and the payment is made over the summer in two installments.

May 29, 2007 – After finding out that several works Lawrence Salander told him were on consignment were actually sold, Earl Davis sues him for the proceeds, damages in the amount of at least $1 million apiece on five different counts, and the return of the remaining art. Davis later finds out that 73 pieces by his father were sold for at least $9,378,875 and that about 25 works are unaccounted for. The lawsuit, which now seeks $30 million, is scheduled to go to trial beginning February 11, 2008.

July 11, 2007 – After not receiving any money from the supposed $477,500 sale of his paintings, Monty Diamond and his sister, Sarah Diamond, sue Lawrence Salander and his gallery for the overdue proceeds together with damages on several different counts totaling $3,477,500 plus interest. According to a later court filing, gallery records indicate that the works were sold to Madison Avenue dealer Paul McCarron for just $150,000.