A former TV news anchor from Tennessee is suing a Japanese gallery over the sale of Andrew Wyeth's painting "Ice Storm."

The Wyeth sold for $820,000 at Christie's in May, reports Courthouse News Service.

Plaintiff Reed Galin says he had a one-third interest in the Wyeth and was never paid. He was persuaded two decades ago by childhood friend David Ramus, the convicted art fraudster who is now an author, to invest $106,000 in the work.

Ramus transferred ownership to the now-defunct Coe-Kerr Gallery in Manhattan, says Galin. From 1995 to 2015, Galin says he tried to locate the Wyeth, but was not successsful and he claims the history of ownerhip was not clear when it showed up at auction.

The defendants are collector Kunitaki Hamada and his Gallery Hamada. Their lawyer denied any wrongdoing, noting that they purchased the Wyeth through a "reputable buyer" and had never heard of Ramus or his art crimes. Ramus is not named as a defendant in the suit.