Art Dealer
UK imposes travel ban on art dealer accused of financing Hezbollah
An art dealer and diamond smuggler accused of being a Hezbollah financier has been banned from travelling to the UK.
Nazem Ahmad, 60, is sanctioned by Britain and the US, and he has been banned along with Mustafa Ayash.
Mr Ayash is also under UK sanctions, after being suspected of providing financial support for Gaza Now, which Britain accuses of promoting the “Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist groups”.
An art adviser to the stars who scammed her elite friends out of $6.4million to fund her high-flying lifestyle has opened up about her newfound misery – as she faces 20 years behind bars.
Lisa Schiff boasted Leonardo DiCaprio and a real estate heiressamong her high profile clients, before her entire scheme unraveled in 2023 when it was revealed she had been pocketing cash intended to purchase million-dollar paintings.
Barry Stern moved to Paddington in inner Sydney when it was yet to see its glory days as a centre for the arts and where contemporary Australian art was not widely appreciated or recognised. In his career, he transformed it, promoting such art, encouraging and mentoring artists and promoting their work to such an extent that he had an international clientele. His death on July 1 brought an outpouring of grief and tributes from Sydney’s art community.
“Barry was a man of taste, energy, charm and boundless enthusiasm, just what Sydney needed in the early 1960s,” said art dealer Rex Irwin. “He gave me one of my first jobs in Australia and certainly, my first job in an art gallery and consequently changed my life for ever, for which I am eternally grateful.”
An Oak Bay art dealer is facing a fraud charge two years after Saanich police seized around 1,100 pieces of art worth tens of millions of dollars.
Police alleged at the time the dealer was taking art from people to consign or appraise, then cutting contact and selling the pieces without reimbursing owners or artists.
Police began investigating in April 2022 after Winchester Galleries closed and the art dealer ceased communication with owners of artwork in the gallery. An art owner contacted police that month to report the situation, saying they had entrusted the dealer with four pieces of art for consignment.
