A father and daughter from Lawrence, New Jersey, pleaded responsible final month to operating a five-year scheme to promote greater than 200 counterfeit works they claimed had been by a few of the most well-known Fashionable and up to date artists, defrauding patrons of not less than $2m. Erwin Bankowski and his daughter, Karolina Bankowska, who’re dealing with advisable phrases of 33 to 41 months, respectively, entered their pleas on 28 April at a federal courtroom in Brooklyn.
Among the many counterfeit artwork are items supposed to be bought as works by Andy Warhol, Pablo Picasso, Banksy, Raimond Staprans, and Native American artists together with Fritz Scholder and Richard Mayhew. Between 2020 and 2025, the counterfeits had been consigned to respected galleries and public sale homes throughout the US, the place they bought for costs starting from $2,000 for a faux Banksy protest print to $160,000 for a counterfeit panorama attributed to Mayhew. The defendants claimed items had handed by non-public collections related to the unique artists or had been held by galleries and firms that had since closed. In some circumstances, additionally they affixed cast gallery stamps and certificates of authenticity to aged paper.
“For years, these defendants painted themselves as purveyors of positive artwork whereas promoting lies on canvas to unsuspecting collectors,” Joseph Nocella Jr, a US legal professional for the Jap District of New York, stated in an announcement. The duo’s “convictions strip away the varnish and reveal the fraud beneath”.
Among the many prices is a not often invoked depend beneath the Indian Arts and Crafts Act, which prohibits falsely advertising items as having been made by Native American artists. The prosecutors are looking for restitution of not less than $1.9m. Jeffrey Chabrowe, a lawyer for Erwin Bankowski, informed The New York Occasions his consumer accepted accountability and had ”made a horrible choice to assist his household”. Todd Spodek, a lawyer representing Bankowska, stated she had likewise taken accountability for her crimes.
