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Summary Oscar winning actor, avoiding reporters, rushed into the court house from front door.
Actor Robert De Niro arrived at Manhattan criminal court to testify against a former art gallery director accused of stealing profits from the sale of three paintings by his late father Robert De Niro, Sr Shielding his face from cameras, the Oscar winning actor rushed into the court house through the front door, avoiding reporters staked out at a side door.On the stand for approximately thirty-minutes, De Niro told the court he had been entitled to 50 percent of the proceeds of all his fathers art work, but never received payment for the paintings in question. They were sold to a San Francisco art gallery. The gallery director, Leigh Morse, 54, is accused of having wired $77,000 directly to a personal bank account after selling the paintings without informing De Niro, who administers his fathers estate.Morse has been charged with grand larceny and has pleaded not guilty. Morse was formerly employed by art dealer Lawrence Salander, who in March 2010 pleaded guilty to engineering a nearly $100 million art investment scam that duped major players of the art world, including De Niro and tennis pro John McEnroe.Her lawyers have said that she should not be punished for the crimes of Salander. Robert De Niro Sr, who died in 1993, was well known for his abstract expressionist paintings, and taught in several art schools in the United States.
