NON EXISTING "GROUP OF GALLERIES" CONDUCTING OBSCURE BUSINESS IN FLORIDA

I am a painter (artist). After sending out promotional e.mails advertising
my artwork to several galleries with an online presence, I received an
answer from a "Mr. Parker M. Carter", representing "The Evans Group of
Galleries, Inc." based at 926 Michigan Avenue, Suite 11, Miami Beach 33139,
Florida.
[http://www.evanswallgallery.com]

In his e.mail [dated 1-29-2002] "Mr. P. Carter" proposed a cooperation and
the option to exhibit at his "four physical" art galleries of "The Evans
Group of Galleries" in New York, Miami, Paris and Brokstedt (Germany).
He also informed me about an "International Art Exposition 2002".
The Gallery asked for an entry fee of $50.- for
participation. I declined the "Exposition 2002" as I had never paid for
being represented at such an event, before.

For representation at his galleries "Mr. Parker Carter" then informed me
that a "Mrs. Alexis Sandoval"
[[email protected]/[email protected]] would handle all details
from now on. As advised I wrote an e.mail to "Mrs. Sandoval" who referred me
to "the co-owner" of the galleries, a "Mr. Evan Wall Carter". Shortly
thereafter I received a specimen of an "Artist-Gallery Agreement" (contract)
by e.mail. "Mr. E. Carter" even suggested that I should change specific
clauses and parts of the contract that I disliked and send the altered
version back to him via e.mail. This I did.

I exchanged a few e.mails and after three lengthy telephone conversations
with "Mr. Evan Carter" he proposed to show/exhibit my work at all his
galleries - except Brokstedt, Germany.
[Copies of all these mails are available upon request.]
On one of these occasions he mentioned his new cooperation partners (also
galleries) in Vienna, Austria and Barcelona, Spain that - so he told me -
had shown particular interest in exhibiting my artwork, too!

On 4-23-2002 a "Dr. Willow Bota" [officially titled "Director of Gallery
Operations" at "The Evans Group of Galleries"] programmed me for an
exhibition in Paris scheduled for January 2003. [screenshot-copy of the
actual schedule as published at "evanswallgallery.com" is available]

Friends of mine personally checked the New York and Paris addresses given on
the website (between March and May 2002) but there were no Art Galleries to
be found!

During a telephone conversation with "Mr. Evan Carter" I mentioned this to
him and he tried to explain that all gallery spaces are accessible on an
appointment base, only!)
[Pictures of the actual gallery spaces are still on display at
"www.evanswallgallery.com" whereas all gallery street addresses have been
removed, since!]

On 5-26-2002 an e.mail from the "curator", a "Mrs. Margret Parra" of
Brokstedt, Germany, [her e.mail address is "[email protected]"]
supposedly managing the Brokstedt branch of "The Evans Group of Galleries"
was forwarded to me through other artists "represented" by "The Evans Group
of Galleries" who had suspicions about the activities of the "gallery",
themselves.
In this mail she informed the artists that she does not have any business
relations with "Mr. E. Carter" and also warned the artists of doing further
business with "Mr. Evan Wall Carter".

Apparently, she seems to be the only person to whom "Mr. E. Carter" ever
revealed the true character of his "virtual business" and confessed that he
does not actually own or run any art gallery at all! During a phone
conversation with Mrs. Parra she let me know that she had personally seen
"Mr. Carter" and the Miami Beach location (a small, private apartment
equipped with three computers) from which "Mr. Evan Carter" is actually
conducting his "business". She also stated that she has no contract and
business association with Mr. Carter and merely provided a room for one
single exhibition in January 2002!

In the meantime the printed and signed copies of the altered agreement
arrived by regular post. The documents bore an offical character as they
were mailed in an official "Berger Singerman" envelope on 5-1-2002 in
Florida:
"Berger Singerman - Attorneys at Law, 200 South Biscayne, Suite 1000, Miami
Florida 33131-5308". So far I had no previous contact with "Berger
Singerman" and no knowledge about their role in this agreement. As the
agreement had been signed but never dated, it bears no legal value.

I notified "Mr. E. Carter" about this and he wanted to send me the completed
versions of the agreement as soon as possible. These I never received.
Instead, on 5-30-2002 "Mr. E. Carter" sent me another e.mail in which he
stated that he had "..chosen to not represent or have an association with
any individual who does not trust our professional relationship..."

To find out more about "The Evans Group of Galleries, Inc." I checked with
the Miami Chamber of Commerce but could not find any records mentioning
them!

Today, I believe that none of the persons supposedly working for "The Evans
Group of Galleries" actually exist.
In fact, I do not believe that there is an "Evans Group of Galleries, Inc."
outside the internet, at all!
So far, I have only spoken to a male person introducing himself as "Mr. Evan
Carter" over the telephone.

Finally, I decided to contact the FBI to report this obvious scam for you to
investigate as I know of other artists who fell for this swindle, too and
even lost considerable amounts of money or part of their work.

I will file an official complaint with the German Police next week.
[Copies of e.mails, e.mail addresses and documents in my possession are
available upon request]

06-17-2002
On the 15th of June I received a mail from Evan Carter and another one from
Marc Sutherland trying to threat me !!!!

C�cile Coiffard
coiffardatweb.de