Lawrence B. Salander, the embattled Manhattan art dealer whose gallery was ordered locked by a State Supreme Court justice last month, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, according to The New York Times.
Mr. Salander and his Salander-O’Reilly Galleries — which operated from a town house on East 71st Street, around the corner from the Frick Collection — had been facing a barrage of lawsuits alleging that customers or business partners had been defrauded. Some artists or their estates also said they consigned works to Salander-O’Reilly that the gallery sold without their permission.
Lawyers involved in the cases said the bankruptcy filing would delay the other suits while the bankruptcy court deals with which creditors are owed what, and how much each is to be paid.
