Famed artist Jasper Johns’ trusted longtime assistant was sentenced to 18 months behind bars Thursday for swiping and selling 37 of his boss’s works for more than $4 million in profits.
James Meyer, 53, of Salisbury, Conn., was also ordered by Manhattan federal Judge Pail Oetken to pay $13.4 million in restitution and forfeit nearly $4 million to the government.
A teary-eyed Meyer said he regrets deceiving Johns, whom he worked for from 1985 until his 2013 arrest.
“I am truly devastated that I destroyed the close relationship that I had with the man who was my mentor, employer and friend since I was 21 years old,” Meyer told the judge. “I took for granted and betrayed someone who will forever have great meaning in my life. For that, I have profound remorse.”
Meyer admitted swiping 83 works from September 2006 to February 2012 from a file drawer at Johns’ art studio in Sharon, Conn. He took more than half of them to a Manhattan art gallery to sell without Johns’ knowledge, prosecutors said.
Johns, 84, had yet to complete the pieces, but Meyer told the gallery owner that they were finished works and gifts to him from the famed artist. He even allegedly created fictitious inventory numbers to give the impression that they were finished works.
The gallery, which was not identified by prosecutors, sold 37 of the paintings for nearly $10 million, of which Meyer’s cut was more than $4 million.
Meyer had faced 37 to 46 months behind bars under a plea agreement, but Oetken said he believed Meyer was a “good” person who was genuinely remorseful and cut him a break with the 18-month sentence.
“Why do such good people end up engaged in these sorts of crimes?” the judge asked.