Customer William Verdult - Conman Extra-Ordinaire!

As previously mentioned we had clients from all walks of life, unfortunately there were some really bad ones too. William Verdult was a local artist with what was estimated to be a $100 Million dollar King Tut exhibit and we are talking the year 1991! He brought in a Mercedes sedan for repair and when it came time to pay he paid with a personal check. I had signage clearly stating no checks, we did however accept all major credit cards and cash. Mr. Verdult pulled a "Do you know who I am" scenario quickly opening his brief case to show us the many articles concerning his "spectacular multi-million dollar exhibit" and of course I was duped into believing him, and of course the check bounced!
Well here I was filling out the legal forms to report the check fraud when just a couple of days later a big article in the Sun Sentinel how detectives had arrested this conman. He had duped investors across the country with his fake art collection, even going so far as to con one lady to let him use her $65,000 diamond in the exhibit. Mr. Verdult wound up in jail, the diamond was never found! I guess I got off lucky with an $800.00 bad check! I wonder if the missing diamond was in the car! Here is a copy/paste of the Sun Sentinel article.
Police: Tut Art Collection Fake Paintings
Seized
Fraud Charged
March 1, 1991 | By KEVIN DAVIS, Staff Writer
FORT LAUDERDALE -- It was billed as the world famous $100 million King Tut art collection -- a
series of Egyptian-style paintings encrusted with diamonds, rubies, sapphires and gold.
But police say the collection appears to be nothing more than painted canvases with pieces of
glass, aluminum foil and worthless stones glued on. Top value: $30,000.
Detectives seized dozens of these paintings, including a ``King Tut Death Mask,`` in connection
with an art scheme that defrauded investors across the country for hundreds of thousands of
dollars, police said.
The art work was taken from the Plantation home of artist William Verdult, 51, who was arrested
on grand theft and fraud charges after he claimed $1 million worth of paintings had been stolen
from his gallery.
``I was totally devastated,`` said Michelle West, 40, a Fort Lauderdale woman who was persuaded
to give Verdult a $65,000 diamond to put in his King Tut Death Mask painting as an investment. ``I admired him. I used to think he was the most wonderful person in the world.``
Verdult, owner of the William Verdult Gallery, 3355 NE 33rd St., told police on Feb. 10 that 25 to 30 of his paintings had been stolen. Police found no signs of forced entry into the building.
Detectives Patricia Truetle and Stephen Ruebottom suspect that Verdult staged the theft to
defraud West and her friend, John Melkonian, 35, who lost $15,000, Truetle said.
The detectives found some of the missing paintings at Verdult`s home on Wednesday night.
Verdult was being held at the Broward County Jail in lieu of $85,000 bail.
The King Tut Death Mask appears to contain semiprecious or almost worthless stones that
Verdult claimed were valued at up to $13.5 million, police said.
One licensed appraiser told detectives the whole collection probably was worth no more than
$30,000.
``The man is a good artist,`` Sgt. Robert Smith said. ``He has a painting in his house of his
daughter that is really good. It seems to me that he has a lot of potential that he put to use in the
wrong area.``
Truetle said Verdult showed potential investors phony appraisals and told them he was expecting
big returns from the sale of his collection. She also said Verdult used phony gem appraisals to
persuade an art appraisal firm to give an inflated value to the Tut collection.
Artist Of Debated Ability
Found Guilty Of Stealing
September 1, 1993 | By TREVOR JENSEN Staff Writer
The two-week trial called into question Verdult's reputation as an artist, a profile he tried to
enhance with photos showing him with celebrities. William Verdult, the self-proclaimed "Dutch
Master" artist who hooked investors with Egyptian-style paintings of questionable value, was
found guilty on Tuesday of stealing a Fort Lauderdale socialite's diamond.
The $65,000 rock was to be the fininshing touch of Verdult's "King Tut Death Mask."But he
instead traded it for 10 lesser stones that were used to form the mask's eyebrows.
 A six-member jury also convicted Verdult, 54, of stealing $15,000 from a man who invested in the
34-piece "King Tut Exhibit," which Verdult touted in brochures and videos as worth $60 million.
Prosecutor Scott Dressler dismissed the stone-encrusted paintings as "garbage" that Verdult
used to defraud the unwary.
The jury seated in Circuit Court in Fort Lauderdale, however, acquitted Verdult of first-degree
organized fraud.
The two-week trial called into question Verdult's reputation as an artist, a profile he tried to
enhance with photos showing him with celebrities like Telly Savalas and Farrah Fawcett.
"It destroyed him," said Verdult's sister, Gertrude Verdult.
Verdult, who had a home in Plantation and a studio in Fort Lauderdale, toured throughout the
1980s with his King Tut collection, a variety of paintings depicting the famed Egyptian boy-king
who died in 1339 B.C.
The artist was arrested in February 1991 after angry investors turned to police. He was also
accused of staging a burglary of several pieces from the collection.
Michelle West said she was promised up to $1 million from the sale of the King Tut collection, a
return that led her to donate her 10-carat diamond.
Verdult's attorney, Denise Huard, said West gave up too soon - a buyer had been lined up for the
collection just before Verdult's arrest.
"If she hadn't called police, the exhibit would have sold for $18 million and she would have made
 $100,000," Huard said. "Now she'll get nothing."
The true worth of Verdult's work was debated throughout the trial.
A gem appraiser who testified for the state said the stones used by Verdult were virtually
worthless, semiprecious gems that can be bought by the bucketful at trade shows.
Prosecutor Dressler argued that the stones were not even mounted right.
 Huard said Verdult intentionally glued the stones onto his canvas upside down in an effort to
catch the light in a unique way.
The defense's gemological expert, Philip Westfall, gave wildly varying estimates for the King Tut
collection before Verdult's arrest, appraising it at $29 million one time, $1 million another.
Part of the fluctuation was due to his inability to find sales of comparable Verdult pieces, Westfall
said. Still, he testified that he considered Verdult a major international artist.
"Normally, there's nothing like the King Tut collection," Westfall said. "I've never seen anything like it."
Westfall now lives in Cripple Creek, Colo., where he said he manufactures "Earth Ships" - homes
made of recycled tires.
Some questioned Verdult's artistic abilities even before his arrest. Sun-Sentinel society writer
Martha Gross wrote after attending a 1990 auction of the King Tut collection: "To me, it all
resembled stuff second-graders might put together during cut-and-paste time."
Verdult, guilty of second and third-degree theft, will be sentenced by Broward Circuit Judge Robert Tyson on Sept. 29. He faces up to 31/2 years in prison, Dressler said.