A pair of brothers have been arrested in Spain following the sale of a fake Goya painting. The brothers’ attempts at selling the fraudulent painting was rewarded with more trickery by their customer, reportedly a sheikh who paid them 1.7 million in fake, photocopied Swiss Francs (€1.5 million). The brothers were arrested after the smuggled counterfeits were discovered in Avignon. (more…)
Kevin Sutherland, the Florida Pastor convicted of trying to sell fraudulent Damien Hirst paintings has been sentenced to six months in jail and five months of probation, the New York Times reports. “Here he had a choice, and he made the wrong choice,” said Justice Bonnie G. Winter of State Supreme Court. “He could easily have rectified it in the right way.” (more…)
Artist Xavier Veilhan and dealer Emmanuel Perrotin have lost a court case asserting Veilhan’s work was copied by artist Richard Orlinski, whose installation of several works in the French alps bear a strong similarity to Veilhan’s previous work. “The court has rightly recognised the originality of Orlinski’s work,” said Orlinski’s lawyer, Julie Jacob. Regardless, Perrotin and Veilhan have stated that they may appeal the decision. (more…)
As the investigation surrounding the Knoedler Gallery continues, The Art Newspaper traces a number of fake works that are still out in the market. Two fraudulent pieces are currently held in the storage of The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, Missouri, and others have continued to circulate through various resales. “I unloaded my victimhood,” says Bernard Kruger, a doctor who purchased a fake Richard Diebenkorn from the gallery, and who later resold it. (more…)
With counterfeit dealer Glafira Rosales cooperating with federal authorities, the investigation into the sale of a number of counterfeit artworks has shifted towards Rosales’s partner Jose Carlos Bergantiños Diaz, the Spanish dealer who may have served as a key figure in the creation of the counterfeit art ring around the Knoedler Gallery. Diaz, who has not been reached in several months, has yet to be charged. (more…)
Kevin Sutherland, the Miami pastor who was arrested last month for the attempted sale of several counterfeited works attributed to Damien Hirst, was indicted yesterday on grand larceny charges, to which he pleaded not guilty. The pastor had allegedly attempted to sell undercover officers a number of fake Hirsts (one of which is pictured here) for $185,000. His attorney, Sanford Talkin, claims that there is “more to the story.”
