Ricardo Abraham Art

After seeing some of his work on Twitter (and being completely mesmerized by it), I decided to reach out to Ricardo Abraham to request some custom commissioned artwork. After reaching out, he called me and we spoke for about 30 minutes on the phone about what exactly I wanted him to draw and how much it would cost. We agreed on a piece, as well as a price ($340). Ricardo told me that it would take approximately 6-8 weeks to create and deliver my art and requested a 50% deposit. At the same time, I told my good friend about Ricardos artwork and he TOO commissioned a piece (only much more expensive, at $840 with a $420 deposit down) in which he was told it would be 8-12 weeks to complete. Abraham thanked us for allowing him the opportunity to do this work and told us he'd be in touch soon. After not hearing from Abraham for almost a month, I decided to reach out to him and check in. He said that he was about to start working on my piece and would even send me regular updates about it. Well, from here on out, the situation got bad. Two months went by with very little correspondance, only him telling me he's working on it and when it looked "decent" he'd send me a preview. Then, another week, two, three and four went by, I started to get worried. He messaged me once saying that he's been busy at his retail job and would start working on it soon. Then, after 3 weeks (just 4 days before Christmas and when I was supposed to receive the work) told me that he would not be able to complete the work because he's too busy and would be refunding my money (via PayPal, how I sent him the deposit) on Dec 29th. I was really upset, only because I felt like after two months of communication with him and money sent well before that, I was duped. I explained to him that the money wasn't important and I understood how good work takes time, and told him I'd be more than happy to give him a little more time to finish the artwork. Keep in mind, he'd been stringing my friend along (exactly how he did to me) for the same amount of time... only my friend had sent him double what I did! The ending is not good, and basically that (now 9 months later) Ricardo never got back to me, BLOCKED ME on all social media along with my friend, and never refunded any of our money. What is most unfortunate is that PayPal only allows a 90 day window for refunds on $ sent, and we were past that due to us being patient with Ricardo. Since then, we are aware that Ricardo has attended several art shows and posted lots of new work on Social Media (ie Instagram, Facebook) and is obviously okay with the fact that he scammed two good-hearted people out of nearly $800 for his own benefit. Ricardo, if you are reading this: I hope you understand that with an additude and level of dishonesty like you have, you won't go very far in the art world. I'm sorry that you felt the need to betray my friend and I, as the money was obviously worth it. I will do everything in my power to ensure others know about my dealings with you and I welcome you the opportunity to make it right. If and when anything changes, I will be sure to update this report.