2025 might go down as the year for comic related lawsuits. A lawsuit on behalf of 17 artists was initially filed on August 7 in the Southern District of New York against Cadence Comic Art and Paolo Belfiore.
The lawsuit is over “egregious misconduct” by Cadence Comic Art and Belfiore accusing them of defrauding the plaintiffs out of money. Cadence Comic Art is/was a popular site to purchase original comic art. In full disclosure, I’ve purchased comic art from the site, an original piece by Jenny Frison, one of the plaintiffs, about twelve years ago, and some of the complaints sound similar to that purchasing experience.
The plaintiffs include Becky Cloonan, David Marquez, Wesley Craig, Paolo Villanelli, Leila Leiz, Alessandro Cappuccio, Danai Christina Kilaidoni, Elena Casagrande, Valerio Schiti, Mahmud Anjum Asrar, Joelle Jones, Yildiray Cinar, Rafael Albuquerque, Tyler Crook, Jenny Frison, Pia Guerra, and Jill Thompson, and they are being represented by Adwar Ivko.
The 15 page complaint accuses Cadence Comic Art with Belfiore of breaching their fiduciary duties by not providing accurate and regular account statements, commingling funds, and neglecting to safeguard their work from loss, damage or theft. They claim financial harm and that the actions violate ACAL. N.Y. Arts & Cultural Affairs law (ACAL) is that when an artist consigns a work of art to a merchant, proceeds from the sale are considered property held in a statutory trust which prevents it from becoming property of the art merchant’s creditors.
The initial filing states the amount in dispute is over $473,000 and that the defendants collected over $236,253 in commissions for their services with this going back to 2008. There was also “secret sales and secret transfers” which were failed to be reported. In addition, unsold consigned artwork and inventory records weren’t returned.
Further accusations include holding over 49 pieces of art which had not been sold and refusing to return the items even after being sent a formal demand from the artist’s lawyer that also included a cease and desist from further representing the artists. A demand was sent to the defendant on September 10, 2024 and they never responded with a follow up on November 8, 2024 with no response.
They are asking the court to take action to return the art, get an accounting of all sales, transfers, or other disposition of the art, and for damages in excess of $473,000.
After some initial filing issues by the attorney for the artists, things are getting rolling with a summons issued to Belfiore and Cadence Comic Art on August 13, 2025.
Cloonan v. Cadence Comic Art Inc is being overseen by Judge Jennifer L. Rochon. A pre-trial conference is currently set for November 18.
