Inigo Philbrick

Amid a sentencing postponement, attorneys for convicted art dealer Inigo Philbrick are asking a judge for leniency.

The court papers are also frank about Philbrick’s use of drugs and alcohol, starting at a young age and continuing into 30s, which the defense argues contributed to his actions. Judd Grossman, the attorney who is representing several people in civil lawsuits against Philbrick for alleged losses of millions in artwork and money, told Artnet News: “Citing other recent high-profile art-fraud prosecutions, where the court imposed sentences well below the guidelines range, Philbrick’s lawyers have asked for a lenient sentence. Chowaiki was sentenced in September 2018 to 18 months’ imprisonment—a significant deviation from sentencing guidelines of 51 to 63 months. At the time of his guilty plea last November, Philbrick agreed to turn over more than $86 million in fraudulently obtained funds. There is even a letter from star contemporary-art duo Gilbert & George, who worked with Philbrick when he was an intern at London’s White Cube Gallery, where he got his start in the art world in 2005. The former art-market wunderkind faces a maximum of 20 years in prison.