A pop artist has sued his friend and an art dealer for $55 million for copying and selling hundreds of pieces he used as collateral for a loan during a costly divorce in 2016.
Todd Goldman, 55, has accused Eli Weisman and Roy Revivo of stealing and reproducing his works – claiming they did so at a time when he was financially vulnerable.
Goldman allegedly confided in his friend Weisman about his costly divorce in 2016 and turned to him for help paying his legal bills. Weisman agreed — and gave his friend two loans in 2016 and 2017 — with 2,500 works of art as collateral.
However, this lease had “sinister and egregious intent,” the lawsuit said New York Postclaims.
Artist Todd Goldman and actress Emma Stone. Goldman, 55, has accused Eli Weisman and Roy Revivo of stealing and reproducing his works – claiming they did so at a time when he was financially vulnerable
Eli Weisman and Roy Revivo are accused of stealing and reproducing the artist’s works
According to the lawsuit, once the first $40,000 loan came due, Goldman still couldn’t pay it and instead let his friend keep the collateral.
The 2,500 lithographs Weisman was allowed to keep brought Revivo nearly $100,000, it is said.
Weisman runs gallery and auction house Q-Art – and Revivo is a California businessman.
Artist Goldman has an A-list clientele — and has sold pieces to Rihanna and Leonardo DiCaprio in the past.
When Goldman ran into money trouble again, he struck a new deal with the duo – he got a $100,000 loan backed by $3.5 million worth of his paintings.
Revivo wanted to inspect the 800 paintings himself, so he asked to transport them across the country from Florida to California in a truck in “extreme heat,” which began to ruin the artwork, the lawsuit alleges.
The lawsuit alleges that he then held the artwork “hostage” and asked Goldman to return $10,000 that Revivo gave “in good will” in an effort to get his artwork back.
The lawsuit alleges: “Roy and defendants did not intend to return the artwork to Todd, it was/she/he/she intended to take advantage of Todd’s distraction and financially strapped due to his divorce, to pull off the perfect scam.” to be brought against the Prosecutor.
“Meanwhile time passed and Todd lost millions of business opportunities with his art.
Examples of Goldman’s work
Examples of Goldman’s work
“The defendants in this action knew full well how popular Todd’s work was, and like a Trojan horse, they offered help to Todd when he was down and needed it most, but with sinister and egregious intent.”
Instead of returning the hundreds of works of art, Revivo reportedly changed the terms of the loan and increased the repayment amount to $25,000 and then $50,000.
Not only did Goldman not own his works, but he also missed out on major business deals, allegedly costing him millions of dollars.
He had to file for bankruptcy in 2018.
It was at this point that Revivo and Weisman began taking prints of the artist’s works and selling them cheaply online, the lawsuit alleges.
This, in turn, “diluted” Goldman’s brand and also saturated the market where collectors would not want to invest in his work because copies were readily available elsewhere, the suit says.
Actress Selena Gomez and artist Todd Goldman
Goldman’s lawyer Victor Feraru told The Post: “This is one of the most egregious cases of exploitation of an artist’s work I have ever seen.
“The defendants in this case have single-handedly diluted the market with unauthorized reproductions of my client’s work and committed unthinkable fraud in the most vengeful and morally corrupt ways possible.
“We look forward to seeing this case make its way to a jury.”
Weisman’s team said, ‘Qart.com has never reproduced Todd Goldman’s paintings, nor have we reproduced his signature. Even a shallow dive would solve it.’
Revivo and Weisman were both contacted for comment.