Actually, the book's title provides a very succinct summation focusing on how a fellow stubbed his toe big-time. Kenneth Walton is the author, and the title is: "Fake: Forgery, Lies, & eBay".
Now, just a word at the outset about the author. He's a friend and former high school classmate of my daughter, Shannon, both of whom graduated from Del Campo High School in Fair Oaks (a Sacramento suburb) in the 1980s. Walton went on to acquire his law degree and worked as an associate attorney with the third largest law firm in Sacramento. This of course was before the toe stubbing that brought his house of cards tumbling down around him.
Selling works of art on eBay beginning in 1999 is what initially set him on the road to riches he advanced quickly financially and soon was making more money pursuing that endeavor than he was bringing in lawyering so it didn't take him long to succumb to the intoxication of it all.
You see, it all seemed so ripe and ready for picking. After all, as noted on the book jacket's inside flap, "Optimistic bidders went online to the world's largest flea market in droves, ready to spend cash on everything from garden gnomes to Mercedes convertibles. Among them were art collectors willing to spend big money on unseen paintings, hoping to buy valuable pieces of art at below-market prices. eBay also attracted the occasional con artist unable to resist the temptation of abusing a system that prided itself on being 'based on trust.' Kenneth Walton once a lawyer bound by the ethics of his profession to uphold the law was seduced by just such a con artist and, eventually, became one himself."
The con artist in question was a former Army buddy of Walton's, a fellow by the name of Ken Fetterman. He extolled the ease and joy of selling artworks on eBay to Walton, and was a master of misrepresentation in the pursuit of same. One trick he used to advantage involved shill bidding, which involved linking with several friends (read: co-conspirators) to bid up each others' artworks in order to entice legitimate buyers to pay exorbitant prices in the online auctioning. Walton became one of those friends, and he and Fetterman became quite adept at playing the game. It was all SO EASY.
Shill bidding is pretty low on the nefarious scale, though, and Walton noted that in many states "there is no specific law prohibiting it. In the states where it is illegal, it is either a minor misdemeanor or just an infraction, no more serious than a parking ticket."
Ironically, though, it was shill bidding that led to the downfall of both Walton and Fetterman. But it was forgery of a signature on an artwork, a more felonious pursuit, that put the spotlight on Walton via a media blitz that the New York Times triggered in a front-page story.
The abstract painting on which he forged the signature was one done in the style of Richard Diebenkorn, an accomplished artist who lived in Berkeley, Calif., in the early 1950s. In his eBay descriptive narrative, Walton said he'd found the painting at a garage sale in that city, which was one of several concocted references in the narrative designed to mislead potential buyers into thinking that he had no clue as to its potential worth. What he had done prior to putting it on eBay, though, was, with "10 quick brushstrokes," painted "RD52" in Diebenkorn's signature style. It was a move that eventually sealed his fate.
Walton subsequently launched a 10-day auction of the painting in May 2000 with an opening bid of 25 cents. That modest two bits ended up in a bid of $135,858, though, as potential buyers went into a frenzy, prompting the aforementioned exposure in the New York Times along with considerable other media coverage. Walton's attempts to wriggle out of the mess he brought on himself were to no avail, however, and the FBI eventually came down on him. His cooperation with authorities, along with his payment of $94,683 in restitution to some 20 customers (out of hundreds) who asked for their money back kept him out of prison. Fetterman, on the other hand, was a fugitive for two-and-a-half years before being brought to justice and spending time behind bars.
What good has come of this? Well, the book jacket notes that in the story "of the seductive power of greed, Walton details the international scandal that forever changed the way eBay does business." His riveting narrative, published recently by Simon & Schuster, is priced at $21.95. His Web site is www.kennethwalton.com.
Contact the columnist at editorial@prescottaz.com.
