Brian Walshe Had History of Art Fraud, Meddling With Inheritance

Brian Walshe, the husband of missing woman Ana Walshe who is charged in connection with her disappearance, had a history of art fraud and meddling with his family's inheritance, court records show.

Walshe, 47, was arrested on Sunday on the charge of misleading investigators in the search for his wife, according to the Norfolk District Attorney's office. Cohasset Police previously said he was being "fully cooperative" in the investigation.

He was held on a $500,000 bail bond.

Mother of three Ana Walshe, 39, was last seen in the early morning hours of January 1 at her and her husband's home in Cohasset, Massachusetts. She was reported missing three days later. Walshe told police that he was sleeping when his wife got up and left the house for an urgent work demand at around 4 a.m. on New Year's Day.

Wire Fraud and Fake Art Dealings

Court documents seen by Newsweek show that in 2021, Walshe pleaded guilty to wire fraud and selling two fake Andy Warhol paintings in 2016, which he stole from a friend in South Korea. He told the friend that he would sell the painting for him, but when he returned to the U.S., he stopped answering the friend, court records say.

Walshe last saw his friend in South Korea in 2012, when he attended his wedding. Walshe then sold one painting on eBay for $80,000 to Ron Rivlin, who owns the Revolver Gallery in California, the largest Andy Warhol gallery in the world.

According to court documents, Walshe pretended he had overpaid for the art in his advertisement to sell it.

"We over paid terribly in 2007 for the art. Price paid $240,000...We are trying to sell on Ebay (sic) because it is much cheaper and because Christie's won't be able to auction our pieces till May 2017," the ad said.

Walshe said Rivlin wanted to make the exchange private because eBay would charge a fee for the transaction, a court complaint shows. When he handed over the paintings to a person working with Rivlin, the Warhol Foundation authentication stamps were not visible because the frames were covering the back of the paintings.

The person who collected the paintings took a photo of them and sent it to Rivlin, who was in his car at the time and did not have the original eBay photographs with him to make the comparison. But he thought the photographs looked like the ad's so he authorized the purchase.

They then gave an $80,000 cashier's check to Walshe, which he quickly cashed. When Rivlin removed the frames upon receiving the art the next day, he saw no authentication stamps from the Warhol Foundation.

Rivlin believed the paintings were authentic because of the Warhol Foundation numbers provided at the end of the ad. But when he received the art, he quickly worked out it was a fake.

"I've bought over a thousand Warhols and this is the one and only acquisition that got by me. He was that good. Clever playbook and Oscar-worthy performance," Rivlin told Boston 25 News.

Court documents show that he tried to contact Walshe by cellphone 16 times after the sale and he was continuously ignored. Rivlin eventually got through to his wife and Walshe contacted him via email.

A segment of the email reads: "The information you explained to my wife is very troubling. If the photos I sent you are clearly different then the 'Shadows' you have now, then that is a serious problem. However, regardless of the problems with the 'shadows,' you have a right to a full refund according to our written agreement in section 9.3."

"I don't want you to suffer financially from this transaction. Especially, if the fault is on my side," he said.

Rivlin asked him for money continuously over the next several weeks and each time Walshe gave an excuse not to pay him fully. In the end, Walshe paid $30,000 back to Rivlin but kept making excuses about why he could not return the remaining funds.

Dispute Over Late Father's Will

Walshe has also been at the center of an ongoing dispute over his late father's will after family and friends accused him destroyed the document and taking over his father's estate.

On Monday, a friend of Walshe's father, Thomas Walshe, told CBS Boston that Brian Walshe has a history of manipulative behavior. The friend, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Walshe was not trustworthy.

"He did some things that were shameful and horrible to someone he really cared about," the person added.

The friend also claimed that Walshe and his father fell out after Brian stole money from Thomas. Court documents also mention the alleged theft.

"Brian R. Walshe had absconded with almost one million dollars from Dr. Thomas Walshe in prior years," wrote Brian's cousin, Andrew Walshe, in a court affidavit.

'Neglected, Unloved, and Emotionally Damaged'

Court records also show that Walshe had a troubled childhood and a long history of psychiatric care.

"Although he was born into a family with economic means, Brian Walshe's childhood can hardly be considered to be privileged. At once being used as a pawn by his parents in their acrimonious marital relationship (he was severely attacked when he was six years old by Doberman dogs brought home by his father to spite his mother) and being put on a pedestal as the replacement for a deceased uncle, Brian was emotionally abused from an early age," reads a sentencing memorandum.

The document said that due to his mother living a reclusive lifestyle and his father being deceased, Walshe had "no one else inside or outside the family to turn to for help."

According to his former psychiatrist, this left Brian "neglected, unloved, and emotionally damaged", the document said.

Newsweek reached out to Walshe's attorney for comment.