John McEnroe ruled 'rightful owner' of $2m paintings

A Manhattan civil court judge has decided that former tennis world number 1 John McEnroe is the rightful owner of a 2-million-dollar-abstract painting whose provenance was muddled after a convicted art dealer got involved with it.

The former sportsperson had bought a pair of paintings by artist Arshile Gorky titled 'Pirate I' and 'Pirate II' with shady gallery giant Lawrence Salander in 2004, the New York Post reported.

But Salander had kept the paintings together in his Upper East Side gallery but two years after buying them Salander.

Salander, who was sentenced to six years in the clink for grand larceny in 2010, traded "Pirate II" to another art dealer named Joseph Carroll.

However, Justice Shirley Kornreich ruled on August 20 that Carroll should return the painting, as he acquired 'Pirate II' in a undervalued transaction where he chose not to inquire about Salander's authority to sell the work.