Sydney,27 January 2012, Art Media Agency (AMA).
The former Australian art dealer Ronald Coles, 64, considered the most influential dealer in his country during 1990s, was arrested on 16 January and brought before the Local Court of Justice in Gosford, a city to the north of Sydney. He is facing 87 charges (77 theft charges, 10 of fraud) before Australia’s supreme court with a potential sentence of ten years imprisonment. This is the latest episode in a scandal which has had the Australian art world enthralled.
Coles was the owner of an art gallery in which he invited his clients to invest. An Australian law – the Superannuation Industry Act – makes it illegal to store certain works of art at home. Coles offered a storage service to clients at his Kenthurst Gallery, in the suburbs of Sydney. Taking advantage of the position of trust in which he found himself, Coles then proceeded to sell works stored at his gallery, but belonging to his clients. So far, 43 victims have come forward.
At the height of his career, Coles was a member of the Australian jet-set, held up as a model of success. His Kenthurst Gallery announced a turnover of AU$20 million (€ 16 million), and he drove a Bentley with a license plate reading “BUY ART”.
When the gallery went bankrupt in January 2009, with debts of AU$30 million (€24 million) owed to his clients and creditors, the police seized over 400 works, mainly by Australian artists, from his various properties. These works, by artists such as Arthur Streeton, Eugene Von Guerard, D’arcy Doyle, Arthur Boyd, Sidney Nolan, Norman Lindsay, Pro Hart and Brett Whiteley, had, at the time, an estimated total value of AU$5 million (€4million).
In April the same year, Bonhams and Goodman Auctioneers, based in Sydney, revealed that the collection contained a number of fakes and imitations, some of which had been painted by Coles himself. The auction house dropped the estimated value of the paintings to AU$350,000 – 580,000 (€ 280,000 – 464,000). At the same time Coles went into hiding, apparently with dozens of authentic works still in his possession.
In October 2009, two journalists from the Sun-Herald picked up the trail in Ettalong, a small coastal town to the north of Sydney, where he was working incognito as a taxi driver. He has argued that he is in fact the major victim of the fraud, claiming to not have either any money or art works.
The arrest of Ronald Coles followed a two-year long enquiry led by Strike Force Glasson, a unit composed of fraud and cybercrime specialists created in order to investigate the case. Coles, who has been in custody since his arrest, has had his bail set at AU$100,000 (€80,000) which his family have, as of yet, not been able to pay.