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Brian Walshe, 49, was given 37 months behind bars after he pleaded guilty to selling fake Andy Warhol paintings on eBay labeled as authentic, the US Attorney for Massachusetts said.
The fraud began in 2011 when a friend gave Walshe three Andy Warhol paintings to sell on his behalf. Walshe kept the paintings and the profits, prosecutors said.
He also had a set of fake copies of Warhol's "Shadows" created by another artist. He sold one of them to someone in Paris for $145,000 and another on eBay to an art dealer in California for $80,000 in 2016, the prosecutor said.
The eBay listing included authentication markers from the Andy Warhol Foundation. But when the art dealer's assistant picked up the "Shadows" painting, it did not have those authenticators, the prosecutor said. It also did not look like the one advertised on the auction site.
The art dealer attempted to get his money back, but Walshe stalled him and stopped taking his phone calls.
Walshe was indicted in 2018, and he pleaded guilty in 2021. His wife Ana wrote a letter to the judge asking for leniency and calling him a good husband and father.
“Whether it was walking for World (Peace) Day in Dorchester or stopping by the Pine Street Inn in Boston to drop off food and sanitary supplies, Brian has been teaching our young boys from an early age how important it is to share the joy and be in contribution with time and resources,” Ana wrote, according to Boston 25.
Walshe is charged with first-degree murder in the killing of the mother of his three sons. She was last seen on New Year's Day 2023. Her coworkers at a Washington, DC, real estate firm reported her missing days later.
Police scoured their Cohasset home and Brian Walshe's online activity. He allegedly searched "how long before a body starts to smell" and "how to stop a body from decomposing" on Google days after Ana went missing.
Investigators found a bloody hacksaw in Peabody and surveillance video that shows Brian Walshe disposing of clothing in a dumpster at a liquor store near his mother's house in Swampscott, police said.
Prosecutors believe Brian Walshe dismembered his wife in their basement and then went to great lengths to dispose of the evidence. Her body has not been recovered.
Court officials have not set a date for his murder trial.
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