Date: 01-13-2025

Case Style:

United States of America v. Douglas J. Chrismas

Case Number: 21-CR0127

Judge: Mark C. Scarsi

Court: The United States District Court for the Central District of California (Los Angeles County)

Plaintiff's Attorney: The States United Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles

Defendant's Attorney:

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Description:

Los Angeles, California criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with Embezzling Bankruptcy Estate of Miracle Mile and Beverly Hills Art Gallery
Art Dealer Sentenced to 2 Years in Federal Prison for Embezzling Bankruptcy Estate of Miracle Mile and Beverly Hills Art Gallery

An internationally known art dealer was charged with stealing from the bankruptcy estate of Ace Gallery Los Angeles, an art gallery located in Beverly Hills and Los Angeles, while acting as the estate’s trustee and custodian.

Douglas J. Chrismas, 80, of the Mid-Wilshire area of Los Angeles, was sentenced by United States District Judge Mark C. Scarsi, who also ordered him to pay $12,809,192 in restitution.

At the conclusion of a four-day trial in May 2024, a jury found Chrismas guilty of three counts of embezzlement against a bankruptcy estate.

“Instead of performing his fiduciary duty and properly managing the gallery’s bankruptcy estate, this defendant chose to use funds that belonged to the creditors of the gallery to make them whole, but for his dream of an art museum that never came to be,” said United States Attorney Martin Estrada. “Today’s sentence provides a just punishment for these crimes, which were brazenly undertaken by a thief who gamed a system designed to protect those in financial desperation.”

Chrismas was the president and CEO of Art and Architecture Books of the 21st Century, which did business as Ace Gallery and had offices located in the Miracle Mile area of Los Angeles as well as in Beverly Hills.

In February 2013, Ace Gallery filed a Chapter 11 petition in federal bankruptcy court in Los Angeles and continued to operate while in bankruptcy with Chrismas acting as its fiduciary and trustee.

In late March and early April of 2016, Chrismas embezzled approximately $264,595 that belonged to the Ace Gallery bankruptcy estate, including a $50,000 check that Chrismas signed, was drawn against the estate, and was paid to Ace Museum, a separate non-profit corporation that Chrismas owned and controlled.

Chrismas also embezzled $100,000 owed to Ace Gallery by a third party for the purchase of artwork. Instead, the funds were paid – at his direction – to Ace Museum. Finally, Chrismas embezzled approximately $114,595 owed to the gallery by a third party that purchased artwork, but which Chrismas instead had paid to Ace Museum’s landlord to keep current with its $225,000 monthly rent.

Chrismas funneled money from the bankrupt Ace Gallery for over three years, until April 2016, when the bankruptcy court appointed an independent trustee to run Ace Gallery’s bankruptcy estate and Chrismas was removed.

The FBI’s Art Crime Team investigated this matter.

Assistant United States Attorney Valerie L. Makarewicz of the Major Frauds Section prosecuted this case.

Outcome:

Defendant was found guilty and sentenced to 24 Years in Federal Prison

Plaintiff's Experts:

Defendant's Experts:

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