Witnessed: Devil in the Ditch - Hidden Crimes, Artful Lies: Exposed

Episode Date: September 11, 2023

For years, Helge Achenbach has been among the world’s most successful art dealers. But with one treacherous move, he lands in prison. In Season 6 of Chameleon: Gallery of Lies, host Bijan Stephen sets out on the international trail of the most famous criminal you’ve never heard of. With unprecedented access to an ex-con, Bijan attempts to solve the riddle of who Helge really is—and who he might become. Subscribe now to unlock all shows on The Binge and you’ll be the first to access Chameleon: Gallery of Lies as soon as it drops on September 1st. A Campside Media & Sony Music Entertainment Production. Find out more about The Binge and other podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hi, Witness listeners, Larison here. If you're looking for your next true crime binge, I have great news for you. From the people who brought you witness, Devil in the Ditch, is the latest installment of the award-winning podcast franchise, Camillean, Gallery of Lies. We turn our gaze from the muggy swamps of the Mississippi Delta to a different scene, the wind-swept beaches of the Canary Islands, and the secret

of world of high-end art dealing. At the center of it, the most famous criminal you've never heard of, Helga Aachenbach. Helga was the best of the best, so good at finding and selling Picasso's and warhol's that he owned seven homes in 30 classic cars. But one big misstep revealed he was actually running a massive multi-million dollar con four years. Join host Bijon Steven as he travels overseas to get up close and personal with Helga himself to reveal the secrets behind this scammer who con millions of dollars from the ultra-rich. Take a listen. Here's a clip just for you from the new season.

If you like what you hear, be sure to add chameleon, gallery of lies to your weekly listening. And for those of you who don't want to wait to listen, you don't have to. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts to binge all episodes now, all ad-free. Just click subscribe on the top of the chameleon show page on Apple Podcasts to binge all episodes now, all ad-free. Just click subscribe on the top of the chameleon show page on Apple Podcasts, or visit getthebenge.com to get access wherever you listen. Earlier this year, I went to a gallery opening on the far west side of Manhattan, where I hoped to gain vital information for a story that had been evading me for months. The show was at the prestigious David's Werner Gallery, among the best known galleries in

the world. David's dad, as Rudolph's Werner, a German-born dealer who has done as much as anyone over the past 60 years to champion and sell contemporary art around the world. The opening was in celebration of another important figure in German and contemporary art, and in the story that I've been chasing. Gerhard Richter is now 91 years old and one of the most famous and successful living artists. He's a man whose work was at the center of a scandal that rocked the cloistered secretive world of high-end contemporary art. To give you a sense of his influence, in 2015 an abstract ricketer painting sold for $46.3

million at Sotheby's in London. Perhaps you've seen his candle paintings. Simple, exquisitely constructed images of flickering flames. By the time I arrived at the gallery, around 7pm, a line stretched down most of a long block on 20th Street. The guy working the door was both thrilled and a little panicked. Yeah, I mean, I haven't seen this for in an opening since I've worked here for over 3 years, so it's quite a lot. Yeah, and crowd-fifters. Usually this is for like this or that part of the crowds, but yeah, it's big.

Inside, the place was packed. On the walls in the first room, Hung Richter's most recent paintings, which he'd made in 2017. A couple of large canvases featuring thick abstrack lines of cranberry, eggplant, and a bright green that didn't resemble any fruit or vegetable at all.

They looked like a film of oil on the surface of a puddle, or the smeary lights of a on the surface of a puddle or the smeary lights of a city as seen through a rainy window. An interior room housed smaller watercolors, all titled with a single word, mood. And yet another room drawings in ink and graphite and pencil. At the center of that room stood a 10-foot tall glass sculpture. I heard a passing admirer say the new piece was going for $2 million. But of course, none of the works had listed prices. That would be crass.

I've always been fascinated by the art market, and recently that fascination has turned into a fixation. But it's not a piece I'm after. It's information about a case. The facts of which are easy enough to find. But the heart of it, where the true mystery lies, is as hidden from public view as that glass sculptures two million dollar asking price. Because to me, peering in from the outside, the art world looks pretty opaque. As I would soon learn, it's not much clearer for those on the inside. Everywhere I went, people told me that if I really wanted to understand a story set in this world and how the art market works, I'd need to find the dealer at the center of it all. The same

dealer who had helped make Gerhard Richter famous in the first place, Helga Akenbach. I was told that Helga inspires a wide range of emotions in the people he encounters. Some think he's a wildly innovative groundbreaker who pretty much invented the role of the art consultant in Germany. Others consider him a shady hustler who's only looking out for himself. The distance between those two feelings got me thinking that Helga might be the walking embodiment of that old saying about art itself, that it's all in the eye of the beholder. It all depends on who's doing the looking. I was reminded of that at that Richter Show in March, as a young couple inspected a drawing for clues to what it could mean.

We're just observing this piece, trying to figure out what we feel about it, and what to what it could mean. What do I see it's amazing. Right work. What do you see? What do I see? Great question. When I contacted Helga to see if he'd speak to me, I got an answer right away. Not only was Helga game to talk, he said, Hey, why don't you just come visit me on Landza Rote, which is one of the Canary Islands. Of course I was going.

How could I say no? I figured this would be the trip of a lifetime. But I had no idea just how wild things were about to get.