Art Patron Told to Hang Up Her Dispute With Broker

NEW YORK —  A wealthy art collector can avoid jail if she does not contact a financial adviser she allegedly telephoned 1,200 times in one week after the 1987 stock market crash, according to the terms of her sentence.

Ethel Scull, 67, was fined $1,000 and given a conditional discharge of a one-year jail sentence after she pleaded guilty Monday to aggravated harassment of her stockbroker.

Scull was accused of making 1,208 telephone calls in one week in January, 1988, to Charles Lewis, a vice president at Shearson Lehman Hutton Inc., because she blamed him for financial losses in the Oct. 19, 1987, market crash. Prosecutors claimed that she called him 485 times in one day.

Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Renee White, who accepted Scull’s plea, also assessed her $60 in court costs and ordered her not to call, write or go near Lewis for three years.

Scull was arrested on the harassment charges Feb. 1. She failed to keep a court date Feb. 28, and a warrant was issued for her arrest.

Scull is an avid art collector whose collection include works from artists Jasper Johns and Andy Warhol.