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"The Tetons and the Snake River, Grand Teton National Park"- Ansel Adams (FBI)
Birmingham art gallery owner Wendy Halsted Beard, 59, is headed off to a very different life.
On Wednesday, a federal judge sentenced her to 5 years and 3 months in prison for cheating dozens of clients out of rare photographs worth millions of dollars, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a press release. The photographs belonged to some of the biggest names in professional photography.
The sentencing comes after the former art dealer pleaded guilty last year to defrauding more than 10 customers collectively of more than $1.5 million in fine art photography.
Federal prosecutors in a Sept. 5 sentencing memorandum wrote:
FBI raided her home in 2022.(Photo: Screenshot from WDIV video)
"Wendy Beard took her father’s once prosperous and highly regarded photography gallery and demolished it from within, leaving behind what amounted to little more than a Ponzi scheme and wreaking financial havoc along the way.
"More than forty victims—many of whom were elderly—trusted Beard with their art collections, only to have the most valuable pieces of those same collections stolen out from under them.
"The victims consigned photographs of significant value, relying on Beard’s family name and purported expertise in hopes that they could turn a profit; more than one hoped to retire off the proceeds of the anticipated sales."
Her attorney Steve Fishman declined comment.
Cheyvoryea Gibson, head of the Detroit FBI, said in a statement Wednesday: . "Ms. Beard's calculated criminal acts displayed a complete disregard for the victims who placed their trust in who they believed to be a legitimate business owner."
Beard, of Franklin, ran the Wendy Halsted Gallery.
The gallery operated for a few years out of a Birmingham storefront until 2020 when it closed and relocated to Beard's home.
Authorities charged that the scheme ran from March 2019 to October 2022, and that the victims were "typically elderly individuals."
Court documents allege that Beard received fine art photography prints on consignment, sold the artwork without the owners' knowledge, kept the profits for her own personal gain, and continually deceived the owners about the status of their photographs, authorities said.
A court affidavit stated Beard sold at least one of the victim's mural-sized Ansel Adams photographs for $440,000 without notifying the victim or forwarding the proceeds of the sale.
A press release last year said "Beard attempted to lull her victims into a false sense of security by offering excuses for her unwillingness or inability to promptly return the victims’ photographs after the expiration of the operative consignment agreements."
Some of her excuses included exaggerating the severity of her own health problems by claiming she had been in a coma and had received a double-lung transplant.
