the Titanic's orchestra leader, Wallace Hartley, played during the boarding of the lifeboats and as the ship was sinking. His body was recovered with his violin and music box still strapped to his chest The violin is featured in Titanic: An Immersive Voyage at 18 West Fourth Street in downtown Cincinnati that started on Tuesday, March 11, 2025 at for a limited time. The exhibit features numerous artifacts, dramatic room recreations, never-before-seen 3D views, video animations, and cutting-edge technology.
California – A California man who posed as a musician and collector to fraudulently obtain valuable violins before resorting to bank robbery has been sentenced to 46 months in federal prison, authorities said Wednesday.
Mark Meng, 58, of Irvine, California, convinced a violin shop in Virginia to send him several high-end instruments on a trial basis, including an 1823 violin valued at $175,000, a 1903 violin worth $55,000, and three bows worth $5,000, according to federal law enforcement officials. Meng was expected to either purchase or return the instruments after the trial period but instead issued the shop a check for $235,234 that later bounced, officials said.
Rather than fulfilling his obligation, Meng sold at least one of the violins at a steep discount and allegedly engaged in similar fraudulent activities with other music stores, according to an indictment. The indictment also accused him of robbing a bank near his home.
Meng pleaded guilty in September to one count of wire fraud and one count of bank robbery.
His attorney, Anthony M. Solis, said Meng is an actual violinist but struggled after being released from prison on a prior conviction. Solis said Meng had fallen into drug use and gambling, leading to his fraudulent activities. According to a defendant sentencing memorandum, Meng suffered a heart attack on the day of his arrest in the spring of 2024.
Federal prosecutors said that between 2020 and 2023, Meng contacted violin shops across the country, presenting himself as a collector interested in trying out expensive violins before purchase. In some instances, he bought bows as a precursor to requesting a trial period for violins.
Instead of returning the instruments, Meng resold some of them to unsuspecting buyers, prosecutors said. He then provided false explanations to shop owners regarding the missing violins. In one instance, according to court documents, he told an employee that he had mistakenly shipped a Gand & Bernardel violin, dated 1870 and valued at $60,000, to Amazon.
A restitution hearing has been scheduled for June 24 to determine compensation for the victims.
Meng’s fraudulent activities eventually escalated to bank robbery. In April 2024, he entered a bank in Irvine wearing a hat, sunglasses, and a bandanna covering his face, according to prosecutors. He handed a teller a note that read: “$18,000. Withdraw. Please. Stay Cool. No harm. Thx.”
When the teller informed him that she did not have access to that amount of money, Meng allegedly responded, “Give me whatever you have.” The teller gave him $446, and he fled, court documents state.
Describing his client’s actions, Solis said, “The fraud scheme was kind of sophisticated. The bank robbery was kind of cartoonish.” He characterized the robbery as an act of “pure desperation,” noting that Meng had already been in discussions with the government to resolve the fraud case when he committed the crime.
Meng now faces nearly four years in federal prison as he awaits the restitution hearing that will determine how much he must pay back to his victims.
