The Rise and Fall of Inigo Philbrick
Once called the wunderkind in the art dealing and gallery business, Inigo Philbrick was sentenced to seven years in prison in March 2022. But why?
Philbrick’s Background
I have to say, Philbrick is the absolute definition of a nepo baby. He was born on April 23, 1987 in Westminster, London to Harry Philbrick (director of the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, Connecticut from 1996-2010) and Jane Polich Philbrick (a Barnard-educated playwright and artist). His grandfather was Richard Polich who operated the Polich art foundery in Beacon, New York where they make huge sculptures as well as the statuettes for the Oscars. If you wanted to get into the art world, you’re pretty well set up if you’re Inigo Philbrick.
He was educated first at Joel Barlow High School in Redding, Connecticut then went on to study art at Goldsmiths University of London like his father had before him.
The Rise
In 2006 Philbrick started an internship at the White Cube Gallery in London. He quickly rose through the ranks and soon was the head of secondary market sales. In October, 2011, with the backing of White Cube’s owner, Jay Jopling, he set up Modern Collections in London’s Mayfair. This new space focused on the secondary market for contemporary artists. His first show there included works by Kelley Walker and Wade Guyton.
Then in 2013 Philbrick decided to branch out on his own, still with the financial backing of Jopling, and set up his own eponymously named gallery in Mayfair, London. After a reported turnover of $130 million in 2017 he opened another branch of the gallery in Miami, Florida.
People were ooh-ing and ahh-ing over him at this point, they were comparing him to Justin Timberlake (in looks) and were falling all over themselves to work with this young golden boy of the art world.
Then everything started to take a turn.
The Fall
By late 2019 things started to catch up with Philbrick and his flashy, luxurious life started to crumble. A number of civil suits were brought against him for fraud after he defaulted on a $14 million loan in October of that year. Sensing that the end was near he fled the country hopping from Australia to Japan to New Caledonia before settling in Port Vila, Vanuatu (a stunning island in the Pacific) in 2020. He thought he would be safe there but acting on a request from the US Embassy in Papua New Guinea, Minister Kalsakau signed a removal order allowing his deportation from the island. Federal agents took Philbrick into custody while he was shopping at the market with his partner at the time, Victoria Baker-Harber. He was taken immediately to Guam where he was held on charges of engaging in a multi-year scheme to defraud various individuals and organizations in order to finance his art business.
On June 15 he appeared in court via video link from Guam where his charges of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft were read. The judge deemed him a flight risk and authorized his immediate transfer back to the US.
American artist, academic, and writer Kenny Schachter said “he’s a mini Madoff who sabotaged his entire life for short term greed due to a toxic mix of arrogance and alcohol” (Alberge, 2022).
Finally, in November 2021 he pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and when the judge asked him why he committed the crimes he said “for the money, your honour” (Alberge, 2022). In May 2023 he was sentenced to 84 months in prison followed by 2 years of supervised release and he was ordered to pay $86 million in fraud restitution. He was released from prison in March 2024 after serving 4 years.
So, what did he actually do?
Great question! There were a bunch of things he did to fraudulently get as much money as he could from everyone around him. “His was a smoke-and-mirrors trade that involved selling a total of more than 100% of an artwork to multiple investors without their knowledge, using works as collateral on loans without informing their co-owners, and falsifying documents to inflate artwork values, with one contract listing a stolen identity as the seller” (Alberge, 2022).
It’s believed that his fraudulent scheme had been running from 2016 - 2019 and numerous paintings were caught up in it including Humidity by Jean-Michel Basquiat and an untitled photorealistic portrait of Pablo Picasso by Rudolf Stingel.
Several civil suits are also still ongoing to determine legal title to artworks that Philbrick oversold or used as collateral on loans. Judd Grossman, a lawyer representing several victims said “everyone’s litigating right now – not really against Philbrick. He doesn’t have anything. They’re litigating against the artworks that have been located” (Alberge, 2022). Grossman believes that Philbrick was brought down by “a combination of greed, opportunity, and a desire to be the art world’s next big thing” (Alberge, 2022). He had a taste of some success but he wasn’t content to grow slowly and steadily, he wanted his life to be ultra luxurious overnight, he wanted to be on the level of his clients and he didn’t want to wait.
Grossman concluded his statement by saying “ultimately he perpetrated the fraud by abusing [his client’s] trust and confidence. The victims have lost real money, equally important, they feel that they’ve been taken advantage of in a real way … Any time you get defrauded and someone steals from you – especially when it’s someone who has developed this level of trust – it’s a devastating, life-altering event” (Alberge, 2022). Couldn’t have said it better.
Works Cited
Alberge, Dalya. “‘He’s Sabotaged His Entire Life for Greed’: The $86 million Rise and Fall of Inigo Philbrick”. The Guardian. 2022. https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2022/may/25/inigo-philbrick-jailed-art-fraud
Sutton, Benjamin. “Inigo Philbrick, Art Dealer who Went to Prison for Fraud, is Free”. The Art Newspaper. 2024. https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2024/03/27/inigo-philbrick-free-art-fraud