An art collector from Greenwich, Conn., is furious over being “bamboozled” into buying a fake Renoir, according to a lawsuit against a Manhattan gallery.
Dealer Robert Fishko concocted an elaborate swindle right out of the “Bourne Identity” movies, luring his victim down Parisian back alleys to meet with a mysterious, financially desperate woman in a dimly lit, Left Bank apartment, the Stamford Superior Court suit claims.
There, Richard McKenzie Jr. was shown a purportedly undiscovered Renoir and was told he could have it for just $325,000.
McKenzie bought the painting 14 years ago, but learned it was fake last month.
“I don’t remember what [the woman] said the provenance of the painting was,” Fishko told a reporter Wednesday before declining to comment further.
“[Fishko] took advantage of Mr. McKenzie’s trust and confidence,” said the collector’s lawyer, Eric Grayson.
McKenzie is claiming in separate Manhattan federal litigation that Fishko sold him $11 million in art that had been inflated by $3 million.



