Prolific pop-artist Todd Goldman claims an ex-pal and a businessman conned him out of hundreds of his pieces — which they then copied and sold, diluting his brand, according to a new $55 million lawsuit.
Goldman – who’s sold works to celebrities like Paul McCartney, Rihanna and Leonardo DiCaprio – accuses art dealer and one-time pal Eli Weisman and Roy Revivo, a California businessman, of taking advantage of him when he was struggling financially in order to steal his works, the lawsuit states.
The alleged scam started after Goldman, 55, confided in Weisman about his expensive divorce and custody battle and turned to the art dealer for help paying his legal bills in 2016, according to the suit, filed Thursday in Manhattan federal court.
Weisman, who runs the fine art gallery and auction house Q-Art, linked the California-based artist up with Revivo, who gave him two loans in 2016 and 2017 using his works as collateral, the suit alleges.
When the first loan of $40,000 came due in 2017, Goldman couldn’t repay the money “and elected instead to allow Revivo to keep” the 2,500 “outdated” and signed lithographs he’d put up as collateral, the suit claims.
Revivo made almost $100,000 off of those works, the court papers say.
In March 2017, Goldman needed more cash for the divorce proceedings, so he and Revivo worked out a deal where Goldman would get a $100,000 loan backed by 800 of his paintings — worth $3.5 million, according to the lawsuit.
Revivo asked to inspect the works before he signed any contract with Goldman, transporting the pieces from Florida to California and giving Goldman a $10,000 advance in the meantime “as a sign of good faith,” the court papers allege.
But Goldman saw that the works were being stored in a truck “in extreme heat” without air conditioning, causing them to stick together and become ruined.
He also began to lose lucrative deals because the works were being held “hostage” — and told Revivo he’d return the $10,000 to get the pieces back, the suit claims.
Revivo, however, allegedly changed the terms of the loan — telling Goldman he’d need to pay more to have the artworks returned, according to the suit.
He first increased the repayment amount to $25,000, and then to $50,000, effectively making it impossible for Goldman to get his works back, the suit claims.
“Roy and Defendants had no intention of returning the pieces of art to Todd, it/they/he/she intended on taking advantage of Todd’s being distracted and financially strapped due to his divorce, to execute the perfect con job against Plaintiff,” the suit charges.
“Meanwhile time was passing and Todd was losing millions of business opportunities with his art.”
While Revivo had his art, Goldman claims he lost out on a lucrative deal for the works to be bought by a cruise line and another deal to sell the works in Europe – costing him millions, the suit allges.
Goldman eventually declared bankruptcy in 2018, and Revivo and Weisman allegedly started copying the works, making giclees — or fine prints of paintings — and selling them online, the suit claims.
The cheap reproductions were offered up for “for fire sale prices” — without the artist’s permission — saturating the market and leaving Goldman with almost no more business opportunities, while his brand became destroyed and “watered down,” according to the suit.
“Defendants in this action knew full well the popularity of Todd’s work, and like a Trojan Horse, offered Todd help when he was down and needed it the most, but with sinister and egregious intentions,” the filing claims.
Goldman’s lawyer Victor Feraru told The Post, “This is one of the most egregious cases of exploiting an artist’s work that I have ever seen.”
“The Defendants in this case single-handedly diluted the market with unauthorized reproductions of my client’s work and committed unthinkable fraud in the most vindictive and morally corrupt ways possible,” Feraru said. “We look forward to this case making its way to a jury.”
Goldman, who’s had clothing brands and television shows based on his “cartoonish” pop-art paintings, is suing the pair and Weisman’s art company Q-Art for $55 million.
Weisman told The Post that “it’s a complete falsehood” that he and Revivo produced fake copies of Goldman’s works.
Over Q-Art’s 17 years doing business, the company has only ever been issued three demand letters, which were all from Goldman, “during his divorce, during his bankruptcy, and this latest attempted extortion, which began in 2021 when his then attorney demanded $10,000,000 within 7 days,” Weisman said.
Weisman forwarded The Post his letter in response to the demand for $10 million that he sent to Goldman’s lawyer.
“Qart.com has never reproduced Todd Goldman’s paintings nor have we reproduced his signature,” the letter said, adding that any reproductions they had were published by prior company that worked with Goldman.
“Even a shallow dive would clear it up,” Weisman said in the letter.
The letter also said that Quality Art Auctions was selling Goldman’s works since 2009 and that “no major” changes in the business dealings had occurred in that time.
“Todd clearly was aware of what pieces sold for because he received payments and reports of every transaction and chose to deliver additional art on many occasions over the years,” the letter said.
Weisman also said his company “had no financial benefit in the dealings between Roy and Todd,” adding, “I introduced them as a courtesy.”
Revivo didn’t return a request for comment Thursday.
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Artist Todd Goldman files $55M suit against ex-pal, businessman for 'stealing' hundreds of paintings - New York Post
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