A federal judge says a civil case filed against a former Franklin Pierce University professor accused of selling forged art works can move forward.
The Wall Street trader and art collector Andrew Hall bought the complaint last September, accusing Lorettann Gascard and her son Nikolas, who were residing in Rindge at the time, of misrepresenting the authenticity and provenance of 24 paintings by the artist Leon Golub.
Those paintings, valued at more than $700,000, were purchased between 2009-2011. Lorettann Gascard claimed she was a former student of Golub, who died in 2004.
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The Gascards denied the accusations, and filed a motion to dismiss on mostly technical grounds. In a 22-page ruling out Monday, Judge Steven McAuliffe says that nearly all parts of Hall’s complaint meet the legal standard to move forward.
A trial has been set for March, 2018. The Gascards, who were last living in Keene, are representing themselves in the suit.
