ARE YOU FAUX REAL? Convicted Felon David Damante’s Elaborate Fake Basquiat Investment Scheme & Its Direct Link To The Orlando Museum’s “Heroes & Monsters” Collection
In April 2016, fraudster David Damante was sent to FCI Terminal Island, a prison located between San Pedro and Long Beach, California.
And that’s where Damante met Lumsden (Lu) Quan, a former San Francisco art gallery owner and close associate of Michael William Force, one of the two men (the other is John Leo Mangan III) who later showed up at the Orlando Museum of Art with a collection of 25 “lost” Jean-Michel Basquiat paintings.
In early 2018, Lu Quan would be represented by Los Angeles attorney, Pierce O’Donnell, in a dispute over a “Basquiat” painting Quan purchased from a Costa Mesa, California, coin shop. (Quan was serving a sentence for his role in the illegal sale of black rhino horns. Quan was fined $10,000 and banned from any work in the art and antique business until June 2020 under the terms of his release — a condition he appears to have violated with his involvement in a 2017/2018 art fraud scam executed by David Damante.)
Between March 2012-December 2021, I wrote the crime/fraud blog “Glistening, Quivering Underbelly”. Specializing in the under-reported “dark underbelly of fraud, cons and scams”, the most notorious (and unflagging) con artist I covered was David Damante, a fraudster currently living in Sunny Isles Beach, Florida.
Damante was initially arrested in Arizona on February 23, 2011, and charged with wire fraud and aiding and abetting. The indictment alleged Damante “fraudulently obtained $1 million from one victim and $2 million from two other victims through false representations that the funds would be invested and that the victims would receive substantial profits on their investments.”
The charges arose from Damante’s ownership of two companies, Sinymante Enterprises and Changing the Planet, which he used to defraud investors out of millions of dollars. To induce investors to part with their money, Damante falsely represented that he “facilitated and funded various investment projects and motion picture deals.”. Using Sinymante Enterprises, Damante solicited $1 million dollars under the guise that the money would be used to finance a “gold mine deal.”
In reality, the money was used to finance Damante’s lavish lifestyle and his purchase of a Ferrari and Mercedes Benz for his personal use. Then, promising a high rate of interest return in “private placements” of “medium term notes,” Damante used Changing the Planet to induce investors into giving him $2 million dollars.
Instead of delivering on his promises, Damante used the money to buy cars and a boat, gave money to his wife and mother, and withdrew cash for himself. Exploiting unwitting investors, Damante enriched himself to the tune of millions. In November 2013, Damante pled guilty to two counts of wire fraud. In February 2014, Damante was sentenced to 41 months’ incarceration with 36 months of supervised release to follow.
In January 2015, Damante was released to the residential re-entry center (“halfway house”) to serve the final portion of his BOP custodial sentence. Several months later, I was contacted by a woman who’d been defrauded by Damante, now calling himself “Robert Damante” or even “Robert Diamanté”.
His scam, a purported fitness product dubbed “Whey2Go”, existed mostly in Damante’s imagination.
Oh, there was a website.
The “Whey2Go” violations resulted in Damante being returned to custody on June 1, 2015. After serving the remainder of his custodial sentence, Damante began his supervised release term on June 18, 2015.
In April 2016, Damante’s probation officer filed a petition and addendum to revoke his supervision.
Of the 30 allegations, Damante admitted 11 violations, several follow:
- signing a promissory note for 5,000
- submitting a rental property application for a property in Arizona in the false name “Robert Damante”
- obtaining an Arizona driver’s license, and registered a car in the false name of “Robert David Damante”.
- falsely representing himself as a millionaire with a bachelor’s degree on a dating website
- obtaining an IRS employee identification number without the consent of his supervising probation officer.
Although the government requested a 12-month sentence, the district court sentenced Damante to 10 months’ confinement with 24 months of supervision to follow.
In April 2016, David Damante was sent to FCI Terminal Island, a prison located between San Pedro and Long Beach, California.
And that’s where David Damante met Lumsden (Lu) Quan, a former San Francisco art gallery owner and close associate of Michael William Force, one of the two men (the other is John Leo Mangan III) who showed up at the Orlando Museum of Art with a collection of 25 “lost” Jean-Michel Basquiat paintings.
Several months later, in early 2018, Lu Quan would be represented by Los Angeles attorney, Pierce O’Donnell, in a dispute over a “Basquiat” painting Quan purchased from a Costa Mesa, California, coin shop. (Quan was serving a sentenced for his role in the illegal sale of black rhino horns. Quan was fined $10,000 and banned from any work in the art and antique business until June 2020 under the terms of his release — a condition he appears to have violated with his involvement in a 2017/2018 art fraud scam executed by David Damante.)
Pierce O’Donnell is the attorney who brokered the exhibition of 25 “lost Basquiat” deal with the Orlando Museum’s Director, Aaron De Groft, in return for the museum’s exhibition of O’Donnell’s unauthenticated Pollock drip painting, “Pink Spring”.
Later today, the conclusion of this story in Part 2.
