Renowned Artist Fined $180,000 in Drug Case

A court handed a top German painter an 11-month suspended jail sentence and a $180,100 fine for drug possession for taking cocaine in the company of nine prostitutes in a hotel last year.

Joerg Immendorff, an expressionist painter, is one of Germany’s most renowned artists. The court said the suspended sentence was conditional on him paying the fine to charities.

Immendorff, 59, suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, an incurable nerve disease that has paralyzed his painting arm. He told the court he had taken cocaine to cope with his condition.