Recidivist Fraudster Pleads Guilty For Stealing Gustave Courbet Painting

United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, announced that THOMAS DOYLE, a/k/a "AJ" or "Austin Doyle," pled guilty to wire fraud in connection with a scheme by DOYLE to defraud the owner of the painting "Mother and Child on a Hammock" by the 19^th-century French Realist painter Gustave Courbet. DOYLE was previously convicted in the Southern District of New York in 2011 of a separate art-related fraud. DOYLE pled guilty today before U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian and is scheduled to be sentenced on November 9, 2026.

"Thomas Doyle defrauded the owner of a valuable painting by telling a series of brazen lies to get the painting and then sell it so he could keep the profits for himself," said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton. "Today's guilty plea reflects the commitment of this Office and its law enforcement partners to hold all fraudsters accountable, including bad actors seeking to conduct fraud schemes in the U.S. art market."

According to the Indictment, plea agreement, and statements made in public court proceedings:

Between December 2022 and March 2025, DOYLE defrauded an art dealer ("Victim-1") in connection with the sale of the painting "Mother and Child on a Hammock" (the "Hammock") by Gustave Courbet. In June 2024, Victim-1 agreed to let DOYLE take custody of the Hammock to facilitate its viewing by a potential buyer. Soon after, DOYLE told Victim-1 that he had a potential buyer for the Hammock, and Victim-1 authorized DOYLE to sell the painting on his behalf for $550,000. By early August 2024, DOYLE falsely informed Victim-1 that he had sold the Hammock for that price.

Instead, DOYLE's associate ("Associate-1"), acting on DOYLE's behalf, offered the Hammock for consignment to a Manhattan gallery ("Gallery-1"). DOYLE provided Associate-1 with a false provenance for the Hammock that was passed on to Gallery-1. Gallery-1 sold the Hammock on October 1, 2024, for $125,000 to an art collector, and most of the proceeds from the sale went to DOYLE.

DOYLE never remitted to Victim-1 any proceeds from the sale of the Hammock. Instead, by February 2025, DOYLE had spent all the proceeds from the sale of the Hammock on personal expenses and his own debts. DOYLE subsequently falsely blamed his failure to pay Victim-1 on the purported buyer, fraudulently claiming the buyer had yet to pay when in fact DOYLE had been paid and was spending the proceeds of the Hammock sale.

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DOYLE, 68, of Connecticut, pled guilty to one count of wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. DOYLE also agreed to forfeit all proceeds from the offense and pay $125,000 in restitution to the victim.

The maximum potential sentence in this case is prescribed by Congress and provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the judge.

Mr. Clayton praised the outstanding work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Art Crime Team.

This case is being handled by the Office's Illicit Finance and Money Laundering Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorney Cecilia Vogel is in charge of the prosecution.