Accused Killer Brian Walshe Sentenced In Art Fraud Case

COHASSET, MA — Brian Walshe, the accused killer being held without bail in connection with the death of his wife last year, was sentenced to 37 months Tuesday in a separate case involving art fraud, officials said.

Walshe, 48, will spend 37 months in prison then have three years of supervised release, according to officials. He was also ordered to pay restitution of $475,000.

He pleaded guilty in 2021 after court documents revealed that beginning in 2011, he orchestrated a multi-year, multi-faceted scheme to defraud multiple people who had an interest in paintings by iconic American artist Andy Warhol.

Walshe began his scheme in South Korea, where he was staying with the family of a friend whom he had met when they were both freshmen at Carnegie Mellon, according to the documents, which were obtained by Patch.

During his stay, Walshe told his friend that he could sell some of the art belonging to the friend and their family — including two Andy Warhol "Shadows" paintings purchased from a dealer for $240,000 and certified by the Andy Warhol Authentication Board Inc. and an Andy Warhol "Dollar Sign" painting — on their behalf, documents state.

But at some point, according to the documents, Walshe decided that he would not return the paintings to his friend and their family, nor would he give them the proceeds of the sales, writing in his diary in March 2011 that his friend and their family are "all about themselves," which "makes it easy for me to do them up."

"Whatever," Walshe wrote in the entry dated March 29, 2011, according to the document.

Beginning that same year, Walshe attempted to sell the paintings while rebuffing attempts from his friend and their family to get their art back, according to the document. When he was able to make sales for his own benefit, he did so "very profitably," the document said.

Over the next several years, Walshe obtained two sets of forged "Shadows" paintings, and potentially a fake "Dollar Sign" painting, and began to attempt to sell them under the guise that they were genuine, even showing prospective buyers Warhol Foundation numbers from the genuine paintings he previously obtained as "proof" of their authenticity, authorities allege.

As a result of Walshe's sales of fraudulent paintings, along with the money lost by the rightful owners of the genuine painting, prosecutors determined that the victims' losses totaled around half a million.

Calling the crimes "devious, complicated, and planned," prosecutors noted that Walshe betrayed friends and destroyed relationships for his own gain.

"Walshe committed this crime over many years, from 2011 to 2016," prosecutors wrote. "He traveled to multiple countries. He enlisted multiple artists to prepare fake paintings, with multiple lies … he manipulated and stole from people who trusted him, welcomed him into their homes, and considered him a close friend. He crafted complicated stories and lies about the paintings to make the fraudulent sales believable."

In a separate, ongoing case, Walshe is accused of murdering and dismembering his wife Ana Walshe in Jan. 2023 after she was last seen early New Year's Day.

He was denied bail after pleading not guilty to all charges including murder in April 2023.

Walshe was initially charged with misleading a police investigation and obstruction of justice after he was found to have given police false information about his whereabouts in the days following his wife's disappearance.

He was later charged with murder and improper conveyance of a human body after prosecutors said a bloody knife was found in the basement of the home that the couple shared, and that Brian Walshe purchased $450 worth of cleaning supplies before Ana Walshe was reported missing.

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• Police Seek Tips On Cohasset Mother Missing Since New Year's Day
• Accused Killer Brian Walshe Suspected Wife Was Cheating: Prosecutors