When Brian R. Walshe appeared in federal court in the fall of 2021 on fraud charges, his wife Ana described him as a loving partner with “a big heart” in a letter urging the judge not to sentence him to prison for selling fake Andy Warhol paintings.
On Tuesday, following a lengthy postponement of those proceedings, Walshe, 49, of Cohasset, was sentenced to 37 months in prison on the federal fraud charges. Yet, he remains in state custody awaiting trial on charges that he killed his wife a year ago and dismembered her body.
A date has yet to be set for Walshe’s murder trial in Norfolk Superior Court. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges in that case and the next hearing is scheduled for March 4.
During Tuesday’s hearing in US District Court in Boston, Judge William G. Young stressed that he was not considering the murder charges pending against Walshe when deciding whether to impose a prison term in the art case.
Walshe currently “stands innocent of those charges,” Young said of allegations that he killed his wife on New Year’s Day 2023. “They would not in any event factor into any sentence this court may impose.”
The judge said a prison term was necessary in the federal case to deter those who commit art fraud. He also ordered Walshe to pay $475,000 in restitution to his victims, but credited him with $95,000 he has already paid.
Attorney Tracy Miner, who represents Walshe, had urged the judge to sentence Walshe to probation, arguing that he “had turned himself around” after his 2018 indictment in the art case. Before his arrest last year for his wife’s slaying, he was making restitution to his victims, working on “self-help,” doing charity work, and raising his three sons, she said.
Walshe, who appeared in court in a charcoal suit and white shirt, remained seated when Young asked him if he wanted to speak, saying, “I appreciate being offered the opportunity. At this time I don’t have anything to add. Thank you very much.”
He didn’t turn to look at his mother, Diana, who came to court alone and sat in the spectator section.
Assistant US Attorney Timothy E. Moran recommended a 37-month prison term for Walshe in the federal case, citing the “sophisticated nature of the fraud and the harmfulness to the victims and other people involved.”
The scheme began in 2011 when a friend of Walshe’s who lived in South Korea gave him authentic Andy Warhol paintings to sell on his behalf, including two “Shadows” and the “Dollar Sign,” according to court filings.
Walshe never returned the paintings or any profits from the sales to his friend, according to court filings. Instead, Walshe had a set of fake “Shadows” paintings created by an artist in New York who specialized in replicas, then sold them to an art consultant in Paris for $145,000.
Around February 2016, Walshe paid a different forger to paint another set of fake “Shadows,” claiming that it was for insurance purposes, then sold them to Ron Rivlin, a Warhol artwork collector and owner of the Revolver Gallery in Los Angeles, for $80,000, according to court filings.
Later, after Rivlin discovered the paintings were fakes and demanded his money back, Walshe returned $30,000 before cutting off contact with him, according to filings.
Walshe was indicted in 2018 and pleaded guilty in 2021 to wire fraud, interstate transportation for a scheme to defraud, and unlawful monetary transaction.
In 2021, US District Judge Douglas P. Woodlock was about to sentence Walshe to time served, the three days he spent in jail after his federal arrest, and probation, then postponed the proceedings after prosecutors argued that Walshe appeared to have violated the terms of his presentence release. Investigators alleged he had obstructed justice and lied to probation officials in an apparent effort to avoid paying his victims’ restitution. The allegations kicked off a series of new court motions and challenges.
Ana Walshe had urged the judge to be lenient with her husband. In her Sept. 7, 2021, letter to Woodlock, she said it was “love at first sight for me” when she met Walshe in 2008 while working at a Lenox hotel. She described him as her life partner, best friend, and a devoted father to their three sons.
Ana Walshe, 39, disappeared from the couple’s Cohasset home on New Year’s Day 2023 and was reported missing by her co-workers several days later.
Police launched a full-scale investigation for days, finding a hacksaw and blood evidence in trash at the Peabody transfer station.
Prosecutors allege that Brian Walshe killed his wife, dismembered her body in the basement of their home and discarded her clothes and other evidence in a dumpster at a liquor store near his mother’s home in Swampscott.
Prosecutors allege Walshe Google searched “How long before a body starts to smell,” and “How to stop a body from decomposing,” among other queries, after his wife went missing.
Shelley Murphy can be reached at shelley.murphy@globe.com. Follow her @shelleymurph. Bailey Allen can be reached at bailey.allen@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @baileyaallen.
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