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…)

The New York Times takes another look this week at new arrests in the Knoedler Gallery forgery case, and notes the number of participants, complicit or not, to perpetuate a major art fraud.  “If you asked me what the biggest factors were behind this thing succeeding so long,” says art historian Jack Flam, “first is that everybody was afraid to be sued. People give credibility to works unwittingly by keeping quiet.” (more…)

The criminal proceedings against a Long Island City foundry owner over the purported sale of a fake Jasper Johns sculpture will see the artist taking the stand to testify.  Johns will testify that he did not give foundry owner Brian Ramnarine a version of his sculpture Flag in 1990, but that he used a mold that the artist contracted him to create in order to create an unauthorized copy, which he then attempted to sell for $11 million.  Ramnarine is also accused of selling copies of works by Robert Indiana and Saint Clair Cemin, the latter of whom has also testified in the case.  Cemin, in fact, claims that he found an illegally duplicated version of one of his works, and confronted Ramnarine at his studio.  “I smashed [the sculpture] to the floor, breaking it, and I left,” Cemin testified. (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…)

Another lawsuit has been filed against the now-closed Knoedler Gallery, this time alleging that its dealers willfully sold a Malibu couple a pair of paintings attributed to Mark Rothko and Willem de Kooning.  The federal suit is filed against the Knoedler Gallery, president Ann Freedman, chairman Michael Hammer and worker Jaime Andrade, along with dealer Glafira Rosales, who has just recently agreed to a plea deal in her criminal case.  “Defendants showed virtually no interest in the authenticity or origin of the works,” the lawsuit says. (more…)

A Chicago gallery owner has been sentenced to a 6 month prison sentence, with an additional 6 months of home confinement for the sale of fake artworks.  Alan Kass, 76, was also ordered to pay his buyers restitutions of up to $350,000.  “I misled people who, like me, enjoyed art,” Kass said in his court statement. “I disappointed my customers who put their trust in my knowledge. For this I am sincerely sorry.” (more…)

New York’s now-closed Knoedler Gallery is being sued by a family trust for allegedly selling them a forged painting by Mark Rothko for $5.5 million.  The gallery has faced similar lawsuits in the past, and is accused of withholding information that may have discouraged the sale, including telling the buyers that the work came from the secret collection of a “Mr. X.”  “At all relevant times, defendants knew that the Mr. X story was untrue,” lawyers for the trust stated. “Indeed, defendants privately equated Mr. X to the fictional ‘goose that laid the golden egg.’”  (more…)