Judge Denies Salander's Request to Work

POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y.—A federal bankruptcy has denied beleaguered dealer Lawrence Salander's motion that he be rehired by his gallery and rebuked his lawyer for filing it, reports Bloomberg.

The motion had suggested that Salander be rehired by his gallery—which is facing a criminal investigation following accusations that Salander sold artworks on consignment without remitting proceeds and failed to honor the terms of other business deals and which filed for Chapter 11 protection in November—to help sort out the 4,000 artworks in the gallery's possession and makes sales where appropriate to help pay off the gallery's debts. A group of the gallery's unsecured creditors said in a filing that the proposal "was striking in its lack of any legal foundation, and the audacity of the request."

Judge Cecilia Morris told Salander's lawyer Richard Bernard of the request: "You should be aware there are repercussions for such conduct."

Salander and his wife, Julie, also filed for bankruptcy in the fall, and have received an offer of $20 million for their six-story Manhattan town house, which carries an asking price of $25 million. They are preparing to put their 50-acre Millbrook, New York, estate in, complete with baseball field, on the market as well.