Art dealer, Douglas Christmas, was convicted in Los Angeles on three counts of embezzling money from his business Ace Gallery. In 2013, his business filed for bankruptcy protection and prosecutors say that Christmas embezzled around $260,000 from Ace’s bankruptcy estate while acting as a trustee and custodian. These funds were directed to his own private Museum in 2016. This is Christmas’ first criminal conviction, although he has faced previous claims of questionable business practices, like selling artwork he didn’t own, mismanaging his gallery’s revenue, selling forged or illicitly acquired artworks, and not paying artists. Christmas, who is 80 years old, will be sentenced on September 9, and faces up to 15 years in federal prison.
https://news.artnet.com/art-world/doug-chrismas-convicted-2496543