Seller of fake paintings sentenced to a solid prison term

A Miami art dealer who admitted selling fake works by Andy Warhol has been sentenced to nearly four years in prison.

Leslie Roberts, 62, created fake invoices and identification documents, as well as fake stamps, to deceive buyers, the US Department of Justice said in a statement released on Thursday.

On October 2, District Judge Roy Altman sentenced Roberts to three years and 10 months in federal prison. The Associated Press reported that Altman also ordered Roberts to pay $2.6 million stolen as part of his scheme based on artwork falsely attributed to the pop art movement leader.

Roberts sold the forgeries through his Miami art gallery, claiming to have purchased them from the Andy Warhol Fine Arts Foundation, the Justice Department said. He provided fake invoices that appeared to have been put up by the organisation before pleading guilty in June to conspiracy to commit electronic transfer fraud.

He also hired Carlos Rodriguez Melendez to impersonate an employee of a New York auction company and forge the authenticity of the work. The accomplice also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud.

In a statement, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Jason Reading Kiñones said it was important to hold Roberts accountable “because art fraud undermines trust in the legitimate art market and victimizes buyers who rely on the authenticity of the works they acquire.”.

Leslie Roberts “has taken advantage of the trust that collectors have in art dealers and the authenticity of the artworks they acquire,” Kignones said.

Reding Quinones said Roberts' prison sentence "sends a clear message: fraud is fraud, whether it occurs on Wall Street or in an art gallery." Those who profit from deception will be held accountable.”.

In recent months, other people have also been convicted of selling fake Warhol works, Leslie Roberts recalls.

In April, a father and daughter from New Jersey, Erwin Bankowski and Carolina Bankowska, admitted that they had commissioned an artist from Poland to create at least 200 forgeries of works by Warhol, Banksy and Pablo Picasso and ended up defrauding buyers of at least $2 million.

The couple pleaded guilty to a years-long forgery scheme in which they tricked galleries and auction houses into buying fakes. If sentenced, they could face up to 20 years in prison and at least $1.9 million in compensation, the Justice Department said in a statement.