A Florida art dealer Officials said on Thursday that this time he was caught time to sell Fakes again, and this time he accused of selling the works he died as assets by the famous pop artist Andy Warhol – while he knew all that the pieces were false.
Leslie Howard Roberts, 62 -year -old, was named at the Miami Fine Art Fair, and Carlos Miguel Rodriguez Melindez, 37, in an accusation list 11 points that include allegations of wire fraud and money laundering.
Roberts was imprisoned Decade previously To pay forged Peter Max works.
The Federal Bureau of Bureau of Investigation, Coconut Gallery, raided a graof exhibition on Wednesday and set up a tent outside the work to the Catalog of Reformer.
Officials said that Roberts told buyers that Warhol’s work, which he was selling, came directly from the Andy Warhol Foundation for visual arts.
But in reality, Roberts was “used AWF definition numbers listed on the back of artwork, as well as fake stamps, to create the appearance of originality,” According to the federal indictment.
The indictment said that Meeendez and participating in the alleged conspiracy did not reveal his name, they lied about being “employees of the New York -based auction company to ratify the artwork fraudulently in order to hide that the artwork was created by Andy Warhol.”
Wire fraud fees stem from six payments, totaling $ 599,850 from “victim 1” between April 17, 2023 and May 21, 2024, and transferred 60,000 dollars from “the victim 2” on May 28, 2024, according to the indictment.
The court document said that the allegations of money laundering stems from additional bank transfers, between the accounts in the name of the exhibition for those who are controlled by Roberts, for $ 150,000, $ 50,000 and $ 40,000 between 19 and 28 December of 2023.
Roberts lawyer Roberts was not possible to comment on Friday.
“Our agent is strongly maintaining his innocence and looking forward to providing full facts in a legal court,” Defense lawyer in Melindes Nayeb Hassan said in a statement on Friday. “We are committed to ensuring the protection of his rights and that the process is fully observed during this issue.”