All That Glitters

A dazzling insider’s account of the contemporary art world and the stunning rise and fall of the charismatic American art dealer Inigo Philbrick, as seen through the eyes of his friend and fellow dealer

A BEST BOOK: The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Economist, Town & Country • In development as a series for HBO

“Exhilarating. . . . Compulsively readable.”—The Guardian • “Reads like a Liar’s Poker for the art world.”—The Economist

“This tantalizing glimpse by a former dealer into the art world’s most rarefied stratum doubles as a cautionary tale about a largely unregulated industry where hubris, greed and fraud abound.”—The New York Times

Orlando Whitfield and Inigo Philbrick met in 2006 at London’s Goldsmiths University where they became best friends. By 2007 they had started I&O Fine Art.

Orlando would eventually set up his own gallery and watch as Inigo quickly immersed himself in a world of private jets and multimillion-dollar deals for major clients. Inigo seemed brilliant, but underneath the extravagant façade, his complicated financial schemes were unraveling. With debt, lawsuits, and court summonses piling up, Inigo went into a tailspin of lies and subterfuge. At around the same time, Orlando himself experienced a nervous breakdown and left the art world for good. By 2019 things had spiraled enough out of control for Inigo to flee to the remote island nation of Vanuatu, 300 miles west of Fiji. Within a year, he was arrested by the FBI and extradited to America, where he was sentenced to seven years in prison for having committed more than $86 million in fraud.

All That Glitters is at once a shocking and compulsive story of ambition and downfall, a cautionary tale, and an intimate portrait of friendship and its loss.