On Tuesday, October 1, 2013, nearly six years after federal authorities raided Chicago’s Kass/Meridian Gallery, gallery owner Alan Kass was sentenced to six months in prison and ordered to spend an additional six months on home confinement for selling forged artworks to unsuspecting buyers. Kass and two associates, including a New York distributor who is still awaiting sentencing, were indicted in 2011 as part of a comprehensive investigation into international art fraud.
Kass, who pleaded guilty to nine fraud counts in May, was given a more lenient sentence due to a spate of recent health problems. Kass collected over $480,000 by selling fake works by Marc Chagall, Salvador Dali and other well-known artists.
