Shedding Vilar’s Name

The board of directors of the Vail Valley Foundation, which operates the Vilar Center For The Arts At Beaver Creek, Colo., is considering removing the name of investor and performing arts philanthropist Alberto Vilar from the venue.

The Gerald R. Ford Amphitheatre in Vail, Colo., is also overseen by the Vail Valley Foundation.

Vilar was arrested in Newark, N.J., May 26th on fraud charges and accused of bilking an investor of $5 million.

Of more immediate interest to the Vail Valley Foundation is his ability to pay the remaining $1.5 million of the $3.5 million he pledged to the foundation five years ago, according to the Vail Daily.

“It might be appropriate to modify it, given that it appears we might not get the $1.5 million,” VVF President Harry Frampton told the paper. Vilar is reportedly free on $10 million bail raised by friends.