All That Glitters

June 24, 2024
Former art dealer Whitfield skillfully blends memoir and true crime in this immersive account of his relationship with art fraudster Inigo Philbrick. Whitfield first met Philbrick at Goldsmiths University in 2006. The two became fast friends, launching an art dealership together in 2007. Early on, Whitfield noticed the charismatic Philbrick’s need to “always be in possession of one trump card,” which often led him to tell small lies to close deals or secure relationships. After a few years in business together, the pair began working separately but remained close, and Philbrick’s deceptions started to balloon—he began inventing fictitious buyers and selling multiple shares of individual pieces at wildly inflated prices. After Whitfield’s substance abuse and mental illness led him to retire, he learned about the scale of Philbrick’s schemes; in 2019, with investigators closing in, Philbrick made headlines for fleeing to the island of Vanuatu to seek asylum. He was eventually arrested by the FBI and extradited to the U.S., where he pled guilty to defrauding collectors out of more than $80 million. Whitfield vividly captures the surreal contours of the art world—where buyers spend hefty sums on paintings made from M&Ms—and convincingly highlights how its absurdity helped cover Philbrick’s tracks for so long. The result is a rollicking up-close look at a fascinating con. Agent: John Ash, CAA.