In 2020 Inigo Philbrick was arrested by the FBI on the Pacific island of Vanuatu and brought to Manhattan in handcuffs. He was wanted for his part in one of the biggest art frauds in history. Still only in his early 30s, he was accused of duping art investors into parting with around $86m. Lawsuits were piling up, accusing him of forging legal documents, double-dealing priceless artworks and refusing to pay enormous debts to people he still called friends, (although the feeling almost certainly wasn’t mutual). Found guilty and banged up in the jail where Epstein killed himself, he was eventually shipped out to a low security prison to serve seven years. In the end he got out after three, which only goes to show that Philbrick has the luck of the devil.
In this exhilarating book, Orlando Whitfield tells the story of his former friend’s downfall in thrilling detail. Inigo and Orlando start out as two baroquely named undergraduates at Goldsmiths, University of London, both from arty families (Whitfield’s dad used to run Christie’s, Philbrick’s was head of a distinguished museum in Connecticut). They become pals and finally partners as I & O Fine Art. They shift a Rego, attempt to acquire a Bansky from a Shoreditch door and generally try to become masters of the artiverse.
