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Warhol Thief Wants Plea Bargain Sentence After Losing at Trial

August 4, 2011 by Marion Maneker


The man who sold an Warhol “Heinz 57” box to Baby Jane Holzer for $220,000 after stealing it from his employer is waiting for sentencing. He fired his lawyers after his conviction and now wants to the two-year sentence he was offered as a plea bargain before the trial, according to the NY Post:

James Biear faces up to 121 months in the slammer for ripping off poet and writer Kenward Elmslie, a grandson of famed publisher Joseph Pulitzer, after he began suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease. In court papers filed today, Manhattan federal prosecutors noted that Biear, 50, “systematically, frequently and painstakingly stole from Elmslie” by swiping his prized personal possessions and sneaking them out of his Greenwich Village home.

Prosecutors seek 10-plus years for ex-assistant who ripped off Pulitzer heir Kenward Elmslie (NY Post)

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Filed Under: Fraud, Theft & Restitution

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