Art News

Former Salander-O’Reilly Galleries Director Leigh Morse to Pay Restitution for Fraud

NEW YORK, NY (REUTERS).- Former art gallery director Leigh Morse escaped a lengthy prison term at her sentencing in a Manhattan criminal court on Tuesday but will owe $1.65 million in restitution for defrauding her clients. Morse will serve an intermittent sentence, spending weekends in confinement for four months, and be on probation for five years. The punishment capped a trial that saw actor Robert DeNiro testify against her. Morse, 55, was found guilty in April of selling more than 80 works of art from four estates for approximately $5 million without informing the owners. But she was cleared of a larceny charge that stemmed from allegations that she had sold several paintings by DeNiro’s father, the late Robert DeNiro Sr., without paying the actor. Morse worked for art dealer