In October 2011, with backing from White Cube's owner, Jay Jopling, he set up Modern Collections at 89 Mount Street in London's Mayfair, focusing on the secondary market for the work of contemporary artists.
[13] Acting on a request from the U.S. Embassy in Papua New Guinea, Minister Kalsakau subsequently signed a removal order allowing for his deportation from the South Pacific Ocean nation.
As a fugitive from justice in the United States since October 2019, U.S. Federal law enforcement agents subsequently took the art dealer into custody apprehending him shopping at a market with partner Victoria Baker-Harber.
[4] He was taken immediately to Port Vila Airport and transported to Guam via Gulfstream V, to answer to a criminal complaint charging him with engaging in a multi-year scheme to defraud various individuals and entities in order to finance his art business.
[14][15][16] Philbrick appeared in court via video link in Guam on June 15 where his charges of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft were read.
[17] American artist, academic and writer Kenny Schachter, who lost more than $1.5 million to Philbrick, called him a "very talented art dealer", a "mini Madoff" who had "sabotaged his entire life for short-term greed", and fell due to "a toxic mix of arrogance and alcohol".
[19] On 23 May 2022, he was sentenced by District Judge Sidney H. Stein to 84 months in prison, followed by two years of supervised release and ordered to pay $86m in fraud restitution.