A new report issued by a trustee review panel alleges that the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra misled its trustees, subscribers, and the public about the value and authenticity of rare stringed instruments it purchased from philanthropist Herbert Axelrod in an unprecedented $17 million deal, the Newark Star-Ledger reports.

Over the past four months, the three-member panel examined documents related to the purchase and interviewed administrators, musicians, and volunteers who worked on the deal. (Axelrod, a publisher who was extradited on unrelated tax fraud charges to the United States from Germany in November, was not interviewed.) In the report (66 pages PDF), released last week, the panel called the thirty violins, violas, and cellos that make up the "Golden Age Collection" a unique asset to the orchestra and to the state of New Jersey, but found "fundamental flaws" in the way orchestra officials carried out, recorded, and publicized the purchase. The panel also reported that experts found that five of the instruments were clearly not authentic and that several others, including one of the orchestra's most acclaimed and expensive violins, might not be authentic.

The panel, which attributed NJSO officials' missteps to inexperience with large transactions and to their fear that Axelrod, an unpredictable and volatile character, would withdraw the offer, recommended changes in the orchestra's governance and management. In response, the orchestra has retained a consultant to conduct a full review of the board; is consulting with its auditors to determine a more accurate valuation of the instruments, which it will announce publicly when it releases its financials in January 2005; and will step up its marketing efforts to increase public understanding of the special qualities of the collection, while reflecting the conclusions of the review panel.

"There are many lessons from the panel's findings about the importance of transparency and board oversight in an organization of our size and complexity," said board chairman Victor Parsonnet in a press release. "We must respond to the report seriously, and I believe that this will help to make us an even more effective organization in the coming years."