Artist Todd Goldman is suing two men for $55 million in ‘art theft’

Prolific pop artist Todd Goldman claims an ex-boyfriend and a businessman cheated him out of hundreds of his works – which they then copied and sold, diluting his brand, according to a new $55 million lawsuit.

Goldman – who has sold works to the likes of Paul McCartney, Rihanna and Leonardo DiCaprio – has accused art dealer and former pal Eli Weisman and Roy Revivo, a California businessman, of exploiting him when he was in financial trouble to steal his works , according to the lawsuit.

The alleged fraud began after Goldman, 55, confided in Weisman his expensive divorce and custody battle and approached the art dealer in 2016 for help paying his attorney bills, according to the lawsuit filed Thursday in federal court in Manhattan was submitted.

Weisman, who runs art gallery and auction house Q-Art, connected the California-based artist to Revivo, who granted him two loans in 2016 and 2017 and used his works as collateral, the lawsuit says.

When the first $40,000 loan matured in 2017, Goldman was unable to repay the money and instead chose to allow Revivo to keep the 2,500 “outdated” and signed lithographs he had pledged as collateral , according to the lawsuit.

Revivo made nearly $100,000 from that work, court filings say.

In March 2017, Goldman needed more money for the divorce proceedings, so he and Revivo struck a deal in which Goldman received a $100,000 loan secured by 800 of his paintings — valued at $3.5 million, according to the lawsuit U.S. dollar.

Revivo requested an inspection of the works before signing a contract with Goldman, shipped the pieces from Florida to California, and in the meantime paid Goldman a $10,000 advance “as a sign of good faith,” court filings say.

But Goldman saw the works being stored in a truck “in extreme heat” without air conditioning, causing them to stick together and ruin.

He also began losing lucrative deals because the works were being held “hostage” — and told Revivo he would return the $10,000 to get the pieces back, the lawsuit says.

However, Revivo allegedly changed the terms of the loan and told Goldman he would have to pay more to have the artworks returned, the lawsuit says.

He increased the repayment amount first to $25,000 and then to $50,000, making it virtually impossible for Goldman to get his works back, the lawsuit says.

“Roy and the Defendants had no intention of returning the artworks to Todd. Rather, their intention was to take advantage of Todd’s distraction and financial difficulties resulting from his divorce to pull off the perfect fraud against the plaintiff,” the lawsuit said.

“Meanwhile, time passed and Todd lost millions of business opportunities with his art.”

While Revivo had his art, Goldman claims he missed a lucrative deal to have a cruise line buy the works and another deal to sell the works in Europe — which cost him millions, the lawsuit says.

Goldman eventually filed for bankruptcy in 2018, and Revivo and Weisman allegedly began copying the works, making giclée prints — or fine print of paintings — and selling them online, the lawsuit says.

The cheap reproductions were offered at “company prices” without the artist’s permission, saturating the market and leaving Goldman with almost no further business opportunities while destroying and “diluting” its brand, the lawsuit says.

“The defendants in this lawsuit, keenly aware of the popularity of Todd’s work, like a Trojan horse offered to help Todd when he was down and needed it most, albeit with sinister and egregious intentions,” the filing says .

Goldman’s attorney, Victor Feraru, told The Post, “This is one of the most egregious cases of exploitation of an artist’s work that I have seen.”

“Defendants in this case have single-handedly diluted the market by illicitly reproducing my client’s work and committed unimaginable fraud in the most vengeful and morally corrupt manner possible,” Feraru said. “We look forward to this case coming before a jury.”

Goldman, whose clothing brands and television shows are based on his “cartoonish” pop art paintings, is suing the couple and Weisman’s art company Q-Art for $55 million.

Weisman told The Post that “it was a complete lie” that he and Revivo made counterfeit copies of Goldman’s work.

Over the course of Q-Art’s 17-year history, the company has only received three letters of demand, all from Goldman, “during his divorce, during his bankruptcy and this most recent blackmail attempt that began in 2021 when his then-attorney said so.” Demanded $10,000,000 within 7 days,” Weisman said.

Weisman forwarded his letter to the Post in response to the $10 million demand he sent to Goldman’s attorney.

“Qart.com has never reproduced Todd Goldman’s paintings, nor have we reproduced his signature,” the letter said, adding that any reproductions they had were published by a previous company that had worked with Goldman .

“Even a shallow dive would clear it up,” Weisman said in the letter.

The letter also said that Quality Art Auctions has been selling Goldman’s works since 2009 and that there have been “no major” changes in business relationships during that time.

“Todd clearly knew what the pieces were being sold for because he received payments and reports on every transaction and has elected to supply additional artwork on many occasions over the years,” the letter reads.

Weisman also said his company “had no financial benefit from the dealings between Roy and Todd,” adding, “I introduced them as a courtesy.”

Revivo did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.