A number of artists have accused dealer Reco Sturgis—the founder of Hugo Galerie in , which closed in 2023—of withholding artworks, failing to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in owed funds, and making violent threats via email and text message.

In one message reviewed by ARTnews , Sturgis seemingly threatened to kill a friend of an artist who had publicly warned others about him: “She is in danger now. This bitch will die. On my mother’s grave,” he wrote.

Sturgis, who is originally from Atlanta and whose current whereabouts are unknown, has been named in at least one legal proceeding by an artist seeking unpaid sales proceeds. In 2023, he was also sued by his landlord, Peter Weisman, for nonpayment of rent on Hugo Galerie’s SoHo location. Court documents filed in the Civil Court

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