Harry Stendahl and Jonas Mekas in happier days

from the July 13, 2010 NY Post:

The owner of Chelsea's Stendhal Gallery swindled two famed artists to fund his extravagant lifestyle - including paying off a $90,000 bill at Cipriani Downtown, court papers claim.

The artists, "godfather of avant-garde cinema" Jonas Mekas and designer Paula Scher, charge that Harry Stendhal sold their pieces without giving them their cut and is holding millions of dollars more of their work hostage, according to lawsuits they filed in Manhattan Supreme Court.

The pair say that when they confronted Stendhal, he retaliated by barraging them with profanity-laced e-mails.