Displaying items by tag: Fraud

Dutch police have arrested a man suspected of trying to sell a fake Vincent van Gogh painting with a multimillion-euro price tag.

The 56-year-old, whose identity was not released – in line with Dutch privacy law – was arrested on suspicion of fraud for attempting to sell what he claimed was a study for the Dutch master’s painting The Harvest.

An $8 million Basquiat painting and a Roman Togatus statue that were illegally smuggled into the United States by a convicted São Paulo banker were returned to the government of Brazil today at a ceremony in New York. The artworks’ former owner, Edemar Cid Ferreira, was convicted in Brazil in 2005 of fraud and laundering one billion dollars as the founder and president of Banco Santos. Before being caught, he had been converting some of these ill-gotten profits into a 12,000-piece art collection worth an estimated $20 to 30 million, according to Brazilian officials.

A 67-year-old assessor named Wolf G., and a 60-year-old art dealer named Hans K., have been accused of art fraud and the falsification of documents, in a court case that has been brought against a German ring who stand accused of knowingly attempting to put a forged Alberto Giacometti sculpture on the market, Süddeutsche Zeitung has reported.

Wolf. G's ex-wife Ulrike G., a 63-year-old solicitor and her 92-year-old mother have been accused of being accomplices. Wolf.

Following a trial that was prominently covered in the German press due to its illustrious protagonists, particularly the heirs of billionaire Berthold Albrecht, one of the founders of the German discount supermarket chain Aldi, German art consultant Helge Achenbach was found guilty of fraud by the District Court in Essen and sentenced to six years in prison on Monday.

The 62- year old used to be one of Germany’s most influential art consultants, entertaining long-term business relationships with some of the country’s wealthiest collectors. Berthold Albrecht, who passed in 2012, was one of his most important clients. Achenbach had repeatedly inflated the net purchase prices for art works and vintage cars he procured for Albrecht and other clients.

A district court in Düsseldorf ruled on Tuesday that German art adviser Helge Achenbach must pay €19.4 million in damages to the heirs of Aldi Supermarket heir Berthold Albrecht, the DPA reports. The ruling culminates a civil court case brought against Achenbach following allegations that he defrauded Albrecht of up to €23 million (see Fraud Claim Against Art Adviser). The art adviser is also part of a criminal trial, taking place in Essen. He has confessed to portions of the allegations (see Achenbach Gives Surprise Partial-Confession in Fraud Case and Achenbach Confesses to Yet More Fraud).

Meanwhile, German auction house Van Ham has won the rights to sell artworks still owned by the adviser's bankrupt company, Achenbach Art Consulting.

Three suspected members of an art forgery ring were arrested in the Spanish cities of Zaragoza and Tarragona, "El Pais" reported. Accused of peddling drawings falsely attributed to Miró, Picasso, and Matisse, they’ve been charged with crimes against intellectual property and fraud.

The police first caught whiff of their dealings in July 2014, during a routine check on the border of Spain and Andorra. Inside the car of an Andorran resident they found drawings signed by Miró. Though the man was carrying documents attesting to their authenticity, police decided to go ahead and have them inspected by several experts. All confirmed that the drawings were counterfeit.

In the spring of 2010, a Queens foundry owner offered to sell a bronze sculpture of a U.S. flag to an art collector. The creator, the foundry owner said, was American contemporary artist Jasper Johns, and the price was around $10 million.

On Thursday, the foundry owner, Brian Ramnarine, was sentenced to 30 months in prison in federal court in Manhattan after pleading guilty in January to three counts of wire fraud, including one for making an unauthorized copy of the sculpture, named “Flag,” and creating false documents purporting that it was a rare gift from Mr. Johns.

It will be a busy day for the first hearing of a lawsuit that has rocked the German art world. On 11 November, the Düsseldorf district court is due to hear the €19m fraud case of the Albrecht family against the art adviser Helge Achenbach, and only 30 minutes later, the case of Achenbach’s wife, who is counter-suing the Albrecht family.

A second plaintiff has come forward with a fraud claim against Germany’s most prominent art advisor, Helge Achenbach, according to the Handelsblatt. The state prosecutor, Anette Milk would only confirm on Thursday that a second claimant had been registered but would not disclose his or her name. The paper reports, however, that the claimant is Bernd Viehof, the billionaire son of Allkauf founder Eugen Viehof.

According to the report, Viehof was allegedly defrauded of between €1.5–2.5 million ($2–3.3 million) during the purchase of one or more artworks by George Baselitz.