TMZ.com, the celebrity-stalking news site, has this rare item related to the art world. Claire Forlani is an actress who got angry with her art dealer, Paul Rusconi. She wrote an email denouncing his business practices, including that he had sold her fake works. Now the Rusconi is suing the actress for defamation and claiming $25m in damages. The more sober Courthouse News Service describes the complaint:
Paul Rusconi, in a complaint filed in Superior Court, also said Forlani falsely asserted that he charged three or four times the true price for art pieces. According to the suit, Forlani bought a silver gelatin photographic print by William Claxton of the actor Steve McQueen eating a doughnut in Sept., 2006 as a present for actor Dougray Scott (now Forlani’s husband). The print is one of only 15 made by Claxton and is not a forgery, the complaint said. On July 27 of this year, Forlani allegedly — “for some malicious reason” — sent out a mass email claiming Rusconi was selling art work that he knew had been forged “and that he routinely defrauded his clients by vastly overcharging for the works he sold to them.”
You Baroque My Reputation (TMZ.com)
Art Dealer Files Slander Action Against Claire Forlani (Courthouse News Service)
