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Book Review: “All That Glitters: A Story of Friendship, Fraud and Fine Art” (2024)

November 13, 2025

center for art law all that glitters book review

By Guest Writer

All That Glitters: A Story of Friendship, Fraud and Fine Art by Orlando Whitfield is a compelling and thoroughly engaging recollection of the author’s former friendship with one of America’s most notorious art fraudsters, Inigo Philbrick. Although written as a memoir, it reads like a modern-day thriller because of the extraordinary behind the scenes details of Philbrick’s dishonorable practices. In addition, this book offers an account of the inner workings of the contemporary art market. This story is less a tale about the love of art and aesthetics, and more a cautionary warning about endless greed that plagues the contemporary art market. Unfortunately, cases such as the Philbrick’s are not anomalies in the industry.[1]

Background of the Book and Philbrick’s Fraud

All That Glitters was based on a series of documents and saved communication presented to the author by Philbrick. By handing over his documents to someone he considered a friend, perhaps Philbrick was falsely hoping for a flattering or at least decent depiction of his character. Instead, the author showed immense vulnerability and courage and chose to recount his former friend’s story based on facts.

Inigo defrauded collectors that were his clients, business partners, and most significantly personal friends. The book showcases how Philbricks’s crimes damaged his victims not only financially, but also sentimentally, leaving behind a wake of both emotional and economic destruction.

Philbrick’s fraudulent actions took place worldwide, from London to New York. He was eventually captured in 2020 by the Federal Bureau of Investigations on the Pacific island of Vanuatu, and returned to Manhattan in handcuffs to be tried in court by the Southern District of New York. The value of the initial charges brought against Philbrick exceeded $20 million dollars.[2] In 2022, the United States government sentenced Philbrick to seven years in jail for committing wire fraud and ordered him to forfeit $86 million dollars of unlawfully gained funds. He is said to have committed one of America’s largest art frauds, and All That Glitters sheds light on his unforgiving craving for money regardless of who he was scamming.[3]

Philbrick’s schemes included crimes such as selling works of art he did not have rightful ownership over, and selling overlying shares of the same works of art to different people.[4] He accomplished this by taking advantage of the lack of concise oversight and preference for “discretion” within the art market, in order to conceal his deviant practices.[5]

Whitfield successfully illustrates the pathological nature of Philbrick’s character. Just fifty pages into the book, Philbrick’s moral red flags are clear as day. An interesting addition to the book would be a further analysis of Philbrick’s mental state and personal history, offering the reader a wider understanding of his crimes and deviant personality type.

The author clearly outlines Philbrick’s lack of moral integrity and antics, eventually accumulating into excessive, deceitful manipulation. Whitfield describes Philbrick’s villainous acts as an overall “devious practice.” [6] In terms of damage, a financial amount is not enough to summarize the additional sentimental, moral and reputational damage Philbricks’s antics caused the victims as well as the contemporary art market.

Philbrick’s Fraud and the Wider Art Market

Cases such as Philbrick’s paint the art market as shady and disreputable, giving it a reputation for untrustworthiness and insecurity for buyers. Artworks are some of the greatest visual treasures of the world, from possessing tremendous aesthetic power, to serving as objects of joy for those that love art with a genuine passion. The fraud committed by Philbrick cast a dark cloud over the industry and has been widely covered by the public media, even gaining a British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) documentary called “The Great Art Fraud.”[7] One can only hope that the extensive publications written about it will encourage members of the art-market ecosystem to uphold ethical and just business practices.

On page fifty the author depicts one of Philbrick’s immoral acts with the following sentence: “Thinking about it now, it wasn’t deceit – not exactly – but rather an economy of truth that left me bemused and hurt.”[8] This quote exemplifies how small omissions of the truth erode at the trust established between humans, and how Philbrick’s crimes weren’t just financial but moral as well. The author had a friendship with the culprit, which eventually evolved into a business partnership, making Philbrick’s deceit hurt twofold. This is a clear reflection on how difficult it is to establish trust within the modern contemporary art world, both personally and professionally. High-stakes deals create a high-level need for morality, integrity and trust. Trust, once eroded, is almost impossible to fully restore. In an opinion piece for Art News, Kenny Schachter writes that, “The art world has its own relationship to the truth, and it is not a very strong bond” portraying how prolific illegal dealings have become in the sector.[9]
Another notable quote of Whitfield is one used to describe the opaque nature of the art world, stating that “The art market is like a stock market where all the shares and their owners are kept secret”.[10] Here the author is referring to how Philbrick operated on the secondary market, reselling works of art as well as overselling “shares” of a work of art without properly informing the buyers.[11] To define the meaning of owning “shares” of a piece, Whitfield cleverly describes it as: “no longer dealing in abstract art, it’s dealing in abstractions of art.”

The End of the Book and Conclusion

The ending of the book reveals just how deep Inigo’s greed ran. When asked by a Judge in a court of law to describe the reason behind “why” he had committed acts of deception and devious commercial practices, Philbrick’s response was the following sentence: “For money, Your Honor”.[12] Philbrick’s response demonstrates just how deep excessive greed can run within the commercial art market, sometimes even taking precedence over the value of the works of art.

Artist and writer Kenny Schachter describes the art market as easy to follow as a spectator, but much more difficult to embrace as a participant.[13] The case of Inigo Philbrick showcases a man who went to excessive deviant means in order to facilitate his participation in a market that is well-known to be closed in front of outsiders. A number of art-world participants may not even know that they dealt with Philbrick, since he often arranged for others to do bidding on his behalf.[14]
While not the child of collectors, Philbrick still came from an art-world background that was more privileged and connected than most. He was born to a curator father and an artist mother, and had the chance to study at the prestigious Goldsmiths Institute in London, and intern at White Cube Gallery. The opportunities that Philbrick was given are scarce, and almost inaccessible for outsiders. All That Glitters details how even someone with a background as privileged as Philbrick’s can get caught up in excessive competition between wealth, class and privilege within the art world. Writer Kenny Schachter refers to Inigo as a “mini-Madoff,” referencing Bernie Madoff, the disgraced New York financier who committed a Ponzi-scheme worth approximately $65 billion dollars.[15] In a statement issued for the press, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams describes Inigo’s fraudulent practices as: “built on brazen lies, concealed ownership interests, fake documents and even an invented art collector.”[16]

In conclusion, All That Glitters offers a clear and compelling account of Philbrick’s greed, deviant practices, and eventual downfall.

Select References:

  1. Oliver Franklin-Wallis, “In search of Inigo Philbrick, the disappearing art dealer”, GQ Magazine UK, May 6, 2020, accessed September 24, 2025, https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/inigo-philbrick. ↑
  2. David Jenkins, “The Inigo Philbrick Saga: From Wunderkind To Art Fraudster”, The Center For Art Law, August 11, 2020, accessed September 25, 2025, https://itsartlaw.org/art-law/the-inigo-philbrick-saga-from-wunderkind-to-art-fraudster/. ↑
  3. Charlotte Edwardes, “The money is not real – it’s a feckless level of wealth’: the inside story of the biggest art fraud in American history”, The Guardian, April 17, 2024, accessed September 25, 2025, https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2024/apr/17/inside-story-of-the-biggest-art-fraud-in-american-history-orlando-whitfield. ↑
  4. David Jenkins, “The Inigo Philbrick Saga: From Wunderkind To Art Fraudster”, The Center For Art Law, August 11, 2020, accessed September 25, 2025, https://itsartlaw.org/art-law/the-inigo-philbrick-saga-from-wunderkind-to-art-fraudster/. ↑
  5. David Jenkins, “The Inigo Philbrick Saga: From Wunderkind To Art Fraudster”, The Center For Art Law, August 11, 2020, accessed September 25, 2025, https://itsartlaw.org/art-law/the-inigo-philbrick-saga-from-wunderkind-to-art-fraudster/. ↑
  6. Orlando Whitfield, “All That Glitters: A Story of Friendship, Fraud and Fine Art”, (London: Profile Books, 2024), p. 267. ↑
  7. “The Great Art Fraud, Series 1, Episode 1”, BBC Two, accessed September 25, 2025, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001zprw. ↑
  8. Orlando Whitfield, “All That Glitters: A Story of Friendship, Fraud and Fine Art”, (London: Profile Books, 2024), p. 50. ↑
  9. Kenny Schachter, “Kenny Schachter on Kindness and Cruelty at Art Basel, and Why He’s a Fan of the Great Crypto Disappearing Act”, USA Art News, July 6, 2022, accessed September 25, 2025, https://usaartnews.com/news/kenny-schachter-on-kindness-and-cruelty-at-art-basel-and-why-hes-a-fan-of-the-great-crypto-disappearing-act. ↑
  10. Orlando Whitfield, “All That Glitters: A Story of Friendship, Fraud and Fine Art,” (London: Profile Books, 2024), p. 51. ↑
  11. David Jenkins, “The Inigo Philbrick Saga: From Wunderkind To Art Fraudster,” The Center For Art Law, August 11, 2020, accessed September 25, 2025, https://itsartlaw.org/art-law/the-inigo-philbrick-saga-from-wunderkind-to-art-fraudster/. ↑
  12. Orlando Whitfield, “All That Glitters: A Story of Friendship, Fraud and Fine Art,” (London: Profile Books, 2024), p. 313. ↑
  13. Kenny Schachter, “The Art World’s Mini-Madoff and Me Boozy nights and high-stakes art trades with Inigo Philbrick.”, Kenny Schachter Art, March 16, 2020, accessed September 25, 2025, https://www.kennyschachter.art/2020/03/the-art-worlds-mini-madoff-and-me-boozy-nights-and-high-stakes-art-trades-with-inigo-philbrick/. ↑
  14. Kenny Schachter, “Where’s Inigo? As a Furious Art World Searches for the Disappeared Dealer, Kenny Schachter Finds Him… on Instagram”, Art Net News, December 10, 2019, accessed September 25, 2025, https://news.artnet.com/art-world/kenny-schacter-on-inigo-philbrick-1727460. ↑
  15. Terry Gross, “’Madoff’ takes account of the biggest financial Ponzi scheme in history”, July 10, 2024, accessed September 25, 2025, https://www.npr.org/2024/07/10/g-s1-9114/madoff-takes-account-of-the-biggest-financial-ponzi-scheme-in-history. ↑
  16. “Art Dealer Sentenced to 7 Years in $86 Million Fraud Scheme”, The New York Times”, May 23, 2022, accessed September 25, 2025, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/23/arts/inigo-philbrick-art-dealer-sentenced-prison.html. ↑

Disclaimer: This article is for educational purposes only and is not meant to provide legal advice. Readers should not construe or rely on any comment or statement in this article as legal advice. For legal advice, readers should seek a consultation with an attorney.

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