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The husband of missing Massachusetts mother Ana Walshe looted Dali artwork from his father’s property after his death after breaking into his house and destroying his will, court documents show.
Brian Walshe, 46, was charged on Monday with ‘misleading police’ who are investigating the disappearance of his wife Ana, 39, on New Year’s Day.
DailyMail.com can reveal he was accused by his family of stealing nearly a million dollars from his father Dr Thomas Walshe before the pair became estranged in 2009.
Thomas died in India, aged 71, in 2018 with his lawyer contacting his son to inform him of the news.
Brian Walshe, 46, was charged on Monday with ‘misleading police’ who are investigating the disappearance of his wife Ana, 39, on New Year’s Day
DailyMail.com can reveal that he was accused by his family of stealing nearly a million dollars from his father Dr Thomas Walshe before his death. He then broke into his property after his passing to destroy his will – which had disinherited him
He is accused of taking a Salvador Dali painting – The Horseman of Death – from his father’s property in Hull
Legal documents show Walshe asked for a key to the $710,000 beachfront property in Hull, Massachusetts, after the attorney went himself and took pictures of the original will – dated May 2016.
They add the younger Walshe raided his father’s home, stealing thousands of dollars worth of artwork and luxury items – including paintings by Salvador Dali and Joan Miro – as well as a car.
The father-of-three then allegedly tried to sell his father’s home for $140,000 more than it was worth after he was wrongly named executor of the will.
He was also accused in the papers of immediately tried to sell the other items online, advertising a sale in January – months after his father’s death.
The discrepancies were only caught after his cousin, who had been named the executor of Thomas’ will, contacted a friend of his uncle’s in 2019 to discover he had passed away.
Walshe failed to inform other family members of his father’s passing, with another family member taking over the estate in July 2019.
Legal documents show that serial fraudster Walshe then asked for a key to the $710k beachfront property in Hull, Massachusetts
Thomas died in India, aged 71, in 2018 with his lawyer contacting his son to inform him of the news. Serial fraudster Walshe then asked for a key to the $710k beachfront property in Hull, Massachusetts
Prosecutors confirmed that Ana has still not been found during the court hearing on Monday morning
He tried to object to the appointment a month later, with a probate court ordering him to submit an inventory of the items he took from the property, which he has refused to do.
Meanwhile Walshe was also previously charged with fraud after selling two fake Andy Warhol paintings for $80,000 in 2016, and was on house arrest ahead of a later sentencing hearing.
The fraudster is accused of ‘misleading’ the court regarding his assets in the Warhol case.
Court documents show he failed to inform probation about two IRA’s at Fidelity – one of which he contributed $91,000 – and left off a 2014 Fiat and 2015 Maserati, which his wife Ana drove.
She posted that the car, worth $120,000, was the ‘best Valentine’s present of her life’ in a post online, adding ‘kiss to my husband who makes all of my childhood dreams come true’.
In a letter to the judge overseeing the Warhol case, Ana said that she was ‘grateful’ to him for allowing her husband to spend the ‘last eight months at home supporting his children and closest family members.’
She wrote: ‘During these eight months, our family was able to be together during many milestones.
‘On December 21, 2021, my mother suffered a major neurological event which caused a heavy hemorrhage.
‘Brian was the one who heard my mother’s sighs (sic) for help within seconds and immediately called me and emergency.
‘She keeps repeating that she wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for her son-in law. Not only did he save her life, but he also brought her and the entire family comfort and joy during the course of her illness.
‘Brian has been working consistently on breaking the past habits of his family and we are all looking forward to the new chapter of his life.’
Walshe is accused of ‘misleading the court’ and Ana is accused of ‘benefiting from the fraud’ – with her husband transferring her $115,000, which the court says link back to his victims.
The court claims that he stole more than $100,000 from his dead father’s bank accounts, with the asses quickly ‘converted to cash’.
A ruling said he ‘was not legally entitled’ to any of the items that he took, adding that it was to ‘sustain his lavish lifestyle.’
Court documents also show Walshe used the funds from the Warhol fraud to go shopping with his wife in Prada while in France – after receiving $145,000 from a victim.
She worked for real estate behemoth, Tishman Speyer, and the couple owned several properties together – their home in Cohasset and a $1.3million house in DC (pictured)
Legal documents show that the younger Walshe raided his father’s home, stealing thousands of dollars worth of artwork and luxury items – including paintings by Salvador Dali and Joan Miro – as well as a car.
Court documents linked to Walshe’s Warhol fraud claim that his wife Ana benefited from the the fraud
Walshe is accused of ‘misleading the court’ and Ana is accused of ‘benefiting from the fraud’ – with her husband transferring her $115k, which the court says link back to his victims
Money also allegedly went towards paying credit card debt, which included charges for travel and restaurants.
Walshe has still not told the FBI what he did with the Shadows paintings and led the FBI on a ‘multi-year’ investigation because of his ‘multi-year crime spree.’
One of his victims Ron Rivlin, the owner of Revolver Gallery in Los Angeles – found Walshe selling two Andy Warhol paintings for $100,000 each in November 2016.
Walshe told Rivlin he was selling the works at a great loss in order to pay for home renovations, with Rivlin agreeing to purchase both paintings for $80,000.
The pair signed a contract, which explicitly stated that Rivlin had three days to get a full refund, according to the Massachusetts DA’s office.
Rivlin made several attempts to contact Walshe after discovering they were inauthentic but contacted authorities after Walshe only refunded him $30,000.
A ruling said that he ‘was not legally entitled’ to any of the items that he took, adding that it was to ‘sustain his lavish lifestyle’
Court documents show that he failed to inform probation about two IRA’s at Fidelity – one of which he contributed $91k – and left off a 2014 Fiat and 2015 Maserati, which his wife Ana drove
Walshe has still not told the FBI what he did with the Shadows paintings and led the FBI on a ‘multi-year’ investigation because of his ‘multi-year crime spree’
The legal documents say of his Warhol fraud: ‘The crime was devious, complicated and planned.
‘He traveled to multiple countries. He enlisted multiple artists to prepare fake paintings, with multiple lies.
Brian Walshe, 46, the husband of Ana Walshe, 39, who disappeared on New Year’s Day after failing to catch a work flight to Washington D.C. is a convicted art swindler
‘He involved private galleries, auction houses and even eBay in his scheme. He manipulated and stole from people who trusted him, welcomed him into their homes, and considered him a close friend.
‘He crafted stories and lies about the paintings to make the fraudulent sales believable. Walshe proved so successful, in fact, that the FBI has not yet recovered the artwork despite an investigation of several years and the defendant’s guilty pleas.’
Ana was reported missing to police on January 4 by her employer in DC and her husband – a stay-at-home father – three days after she was last seen on January 1.
She worked for real estate behemoth, Tishman Speyer, and the couple owned several properties together – their home in Cohasset and a $1.3million house in DC.
They also owned another property in Massachusetts, worth $1.4million – which they sold last year before she went missing.
It went up in flames days after she vanished, but cops investigating the matter said it was not linked to her disappearance.
They add that the younger Walshe raided his father’s home, stealing thousands of dollars worth of artwork and luxury items – including paintings by Salvador Dali and Joan Miro – as well as a car
Brian Walshe (right), pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Boston in 2021 after being arrested a few years earlier for selling two fake Andy Warhol paintings to a South Korean buyer for $80,000
Court documents also show that Walshe used the funds from the Warhol fraud to go shopping with his wife in Prada while in France – after receiving $145,000 from a victim
Police searched the couple’s home, finding blood in an area of the basement before finding a ‘damaged’ knife with blood on it
On Monday, cops announced that they had found blood on a damaged knife and in the basement of their home in Cohasset.
Walshe told officers that he last saw his wife on January 1 at 6am when she left to get a flight to Washington DC for work.
Police told a judge that Walshe was spotted spending $450 on cleaning products in a nearby Home Depot on January 2.
He claims that he only left the house once on January 2 – the day after she vanished – to take his son for ice cream.
Authorities say it allowed him time to clean up evidence and dispose of it, with his bail being set at $500,000 in cash.
Prosecutors at Quincy District Court say that Walshe’s statements, including claiming that he didn’t leave the house, delayed the investigation
He failed to list his ‘substantial’ assets that were linked to his wife, with court documents claiming that he should have listed them accordingly
The legal documents say of his Warhol fraud: ‘The crime was devious, complicated and planned.
Ana was reported missing to police on January 4 by her employer in DC and her husband – a stay-at-home father – three days after she was last seen.
Prosecutors at Quincy District Court say that Walshe’s statements, including claiming that he didn’t leave the house, delayed the investigation.
Police searched the home, finding blood in an area of the basement before finding a ‘damaged’ knife with blood on it.
It is unclear who the blood belongs to, with prosecutors adding that Walshe bought himself time to ‘either clean up evidence, dispose of evidence, in causing a delay.’
Walshe told officers that he last saw his wife on January 1 at 6am when she left to get a flight to Washington DC for work
Walshe told police that he was asleep when Ana ordered a ride to Logan International Airport in Boston, with prosecutors saying she was last seen as she left the property
Authorities say it allowed him time to clean up evidence and dispose of it, with his bail being set at $500,000 in cash
Prosecutors say surveillance footage, which has not been released, from Home Depot prove he was lying to officers, which showed him buying taps, mops, buckets, cloths and various kinds of tape.
Court documents claim that he was wearing a black surgical mask, blue surgical gloves, and made a cash purchase in the store.
It comes as cops removed items from the couple’s home in Cohasset eight days after Ana disappeared.
The officers loaded a Volvo SUV onto the back of a truck while others searched the grounds of their home.
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