‘Inigo has never asked me not to write this book, but I had come to wonder whether I would have had the courage to write it were he not imprisoned,’ confesses Orlando Whitfield in his coruscating memoir of his friendship with Inigo Philbrick. He was the art dealer whose meteoric career exploded in spectacular style when he was convicted, aged 35, of wire fraud in 2022. Imagine Whitfield’s alarm on hearing that Philbrick had been released from prison in time for publication.
By ‘flipping’ art works, Philbrick increased his earnings from ‘£35k a year to £35k a month’
Philbrick, who owes $86,672,790 in restitution payments, will have ample opportunity – and cash incentives – to give his side. Producers have come knocking, and an upcoming BBC series offers ‘exclusive documentary access’ to him and his fiancée, the Made in Chelsea star Victoria Baker-Harber. Meanwhile, HBO is adapting Whitfield’s book.
The story is just the latest dish in a tasting menu of schadenfreude being served to a public greedy for hubristic scammers.
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