Romance Scam: Phony UES Art Dealer Stole $1.8M From Dates, DA Says

UPPER EAST SIDE — "The worst boyfriend on the Upper East Side" was a scam artist in the art house of love, prosecutors say.

A phony art dealer who found his victims on dating apps stands accused of stealing $1.8 million from five women he conned with promises of fraudulent investments, District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced Monday.

"Nelson Counne’s sole source of income for the past eight years was money he swindled,” said Bragg. “He allegedly fed lie after lie to women he falsely claimed to have a romantic interest in, enticing them with investment opportunities that never existed."

A New Yorker piece released in April 2022 dubbed Counne "the worst boyfriend on the Upper East Side."

Counne, 69, has been prowling the dating apps since 2012, when he began using aliases Nelson and Justin Roth, prosecutors contend.

While Counne told women he was a wealthy retired art dealer with homes in London, Madrid and the South of France, he didn't even own a passport, prosecutors said.

Counne pressured his dates to invest in a deal that existed "in a “gray area between legal and illegal," but refused to say much more, said prosecutors.

Among the opportunities Counne pitched was a start-up online lottery where students could pay for the chance to win college tuition coverage, Bragg said.

The Upper East Side man now faces charges of fraud and grand larceny in New York State Supreme Court, prosecutors said.