By Shayna Jacobs
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN SUPREME COURT — An Upper East Side art dealer was acquitted of stealing money from the sale of paintings owned by Robert De Niro, but convicted of scamming $120 million from other clients on Wednesday.
Leigh Morse, 54, was accused of swindling the actor out of $77,000 while working at Salander-O'Reilly Galleries.
A jury cleared Morse of grand larceny, but found her guilty of scheming with her boss, Lawrence Salander, to defraud four foundations by selling art without their knowledge.
Prosecutors claimed Morse directed a California gallery to wire the $77,000 to her personal bank account for the sale of two paintings that De Niro had inherited from his late father, who was an artist.
The actor personally testified for the prosecution about his ownership of his father's art and the fact that he trusted the gallery to handle and sell it wisely.
He knew Morse but had very little interaction with her and never personally gave her permission to sell his dad's art, De Niro testified last month.
The jury didn't appear convinced that Morse hadn't intended to compensate De Niro for the sales.
Morse faces up to four years in prison when she is sentenced on June 3.
Her employer, Salander, was sentenced in August 2010 to at least six years in prison after he admitted stealing $120 million of art belonging to clients who did not authorize sales.
