Manhattan man sued for losing 1.35M dlrs painting

NEW YORK - A Manhattan man has landed in legal trouble for losing a 1.35-million-dollar Jean Baptiste Camille Corot masterpiece.

James Haggerty has said that the masterpiece “Portrait of a Girl,” vanished following a booze bender at The Mark hotel.

But the artwork’s co-owner, Kristyn Trudgeon, isn’t buying his tale.

“I think he’s a complete fumbling idiot,” the New York Daily News quoted a visibly annoyed Trudgeon as saying outside her West Side apartment.

“He’s just a complete a-hole.”

Trudgeon and Tom Doyle, who co-own the painting, had hired Haggerty, an old pal, to assist with a possible sale of “Portrait of a Girl” to London gallery owner Offer Waterman.

A July 28 afternoon appointment in Doyle’s Empire State Building office fell apart when the Brit wanted a closer look at the painting.

The suit has been filed in Manhattan Supreme Court.

“We’re skeptical as to the explanation,” said Max DiFabio, a lawyer for Trudgeon.(ANI)