The man who claimed to be artist Luc Sonnet, also known as Richard Carl Grossman, convicted on federal fraud charges.
- Luc Sonnet on digital art
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Art of the Con
As a father, John Cordisco was wary of Sonnet's intentions. Over dinner at Esca, a New Hope restaurant, Cordisco grilled the quirky artist, worried that he was simply pursuing his daughter.
"He seemed to know, or have a pretty good grasp of, the art world," Cordisco recalled. Sonnet insisted he would mentor Nicole, and held forth on his credentials and his Picasso connection.
Afterward, Cordisco was surprised to find little on Google about Sonnet. Unable to disprove the claims, he accepted the artist's offer to donate three abstract prints for auction at an annual fund-raiser for a children's charity Cordisco runs.
About 150 guests attended the March 1 auction at Jericho National Golf Club. Posted near the Sonnet prints was the fabricated bio he had shown Cordisco over dinner.
The artist attended in a dark suit, crisp white shirt and yellow tie. At his side was a slender, striking redhead named Sandy.
"It kind of put to rest for the moment the suspicions I had," Cordisco said. "OK, so he's not hitting on my daughter. And he's got the art."
Each print went for $1,000.
Told recently by The Inquirer that Sonnet was an impostor, Cordisco was aghast.
"Oh, my God," he said, adding that he would contact those who had bought the prints and offer refunds.
"Art is in the eye of the beholder," he said. "But he had that bio out there. I think that was definitely something that intrigued people."
Further burnishing the Sonnet image was the woman he'd had on his arm.
She had been with him at his ARTisZEN show. She had stayed with him at Mill Creek. And she accompanied him when he approached the owner of Puck, a popular new nightclub in Doylestown, about doing a live-art show.
"He talked like he was with the big boys," owner Lynn Goldman said, noting that he also dropped Cordisco's name.
Goldman was too skeptical to bite. But what nearly sold her, she said, was Sandy, who "gave him some credibility because she looked like this Town & Country woman."
The artist never said, not even to his innkeeper, how he and Sandy had met.
But he did tell Brame that she worked for the FBI.
It sounded like another Sonnet whopper. Except that this one was true.
A move to Virginia
Sandra Michele Birdsong is 46, with a master's degree in forensic science.
Citing privacy issues, the FBI will not reveal her job title. But a switchboard operator at her workplace - the FBI Academy in Quantico, Va. - told a caller that Birdsong is in counterintelligence.
