Pellicano Case Moves Beyond Hollywood (client bought notorious Serrano crucifix immersed in urine)

NY TIMES ^ | June 26, 2006 | DAVID M. HALBFINGER and ALLISON HOPE WEINER

[Liz]

Until now the Pellicano wiretapping case has seemed the kind of down-and-dirty imbroglio that could only happen in Hollywood, where a private eye's underworld patois could impress movie people familiar with noir clichés, allured by real physical danger and accustomed to getting whatever they want.

But confidential F.B.I. records show that the scandal's tentacles have extended beyond show-business figures to reach people prominent in the rarified worlds of fine art and classical music.

Among the government's most important witnesses, the F.B.I. records suggest, are Adam D. Sender, a prominent collector of contemporary art and a wealthy hedge-fund manager..........hired Anthony Pellicano, the jailed private detective charged with wiretapping and conspiracy, and that they knew he was surreptitiously recording their legal opponents, the F.B.I. records show.

Mr. Sender, 37, was a star trader for the Connecticut hedge-fund tycoon Stephen A. Cohen before striking out on his own in 1998. In 2001 he formed Exis Capital and made money hand over fist, according to the newsletter Hedge Fund Alert; by late 2003 its assets under management had reached $1.5 billion.

Like Mr. Cohen, Mr. Sender also plunged into the art world, hiring his own curator and investing in works by the likes of Matthew Barney, Keith Haring, Diane Arbus, Ed Ruscha, Bruce Nauman and Christopher Wool......Mr. Sender paid $43,700 for Andres Serrano's photograph of a crucifix immersed in urine.

[NaughtiusMaximus]

Does he like real estate? Satan has a prime lot reserved for him right on the Lake of Fire.

[Liz]

Maybe he better wear his asbestos water wings.

[Liz]

.....Mr. Sender also plunged into the art world, hiring his own curator and investing in works by the likes of Matthew Barney, Keith Haring, Diane Arbus, Ed Ruscha, Bruce Nauman and Christopher Wool. Mr. Sender has also shown a taste for the provocative: in 1999..... Mr. Sender paid $43,700 for Andres Serrano's photograph of a crucifix immersed in urine. And in 2005 Mr. Sender paid a record auction price of more than $1 million for another work by Mr. Ofili, "Afrodizzia".....

[NaughtiusMaximus]

As Mr. Barnum said . . .

[sportutegrl]

43K for a photo?

[Dante3]

Interesting.

[Liz]

No price is too great for someone wanting to make a hateful political statement.

[Liz]

Mr. Sender paid a record auction price of more than $1 million for another work "Afrodizzia"...hallucinatory patterns of colored dots punctuated by tiny cut-out faces of black hip-hop artists and celebrities...

Isn't that Jesse Jackson's skeletal image peering out of the center?

[NaughtiusMaximus]

I'm still on my first cup of coffee. It looks like a street map of Hackensack to me. :)

[Liz]

Hmmmmm, you know, I think you're right.

Although I'm on my third cup.....caffeinated.

That's how I figured it was Jesse in there. LOL.

[razorback-bert]

Mr. Sender paid $43,700 for Andres Serrano's photograph of a crucifix immersed in urine.

Wow, my photo of a bum peeing on Bourbon Street must worth zillions.

[Liz]

Man, you better hire a good accountant---you're gonna be rich with deep-pocketed suckers like Sender lookimg for "artworks."

[Liz]

ping

[Liz]

ping