Arts News
International art dealers charged with selling counterfeit prints
By DPA
Mar 20, 2008, 7:21 GMT

Washington - Seven international art dealers and distributors have been charged with selling thousands of counterfeit prints from artists including Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall and Andy Warhol to unsuspecting customers, making more than 5 million dollars in the process, US authorities said Wednesday.

The defendants, in two separate but related schemes, sold what they claimed were limited edition fine art prints for prices 'substantially in excess' of their actual worth, according to the Justice Department.

The supposedly rare prints were acquired from distributors based in Spain, Italy and New York, and were sold by art dealers in Illinois and Florida, via internet auction site eBay and other means over an eight-year period.

The Justice Department said the dealers were well aware they were acquiring counterfeit pieces, complete with forged signatures of the artists to be sold as limited edition works. All seven people were charged with multiple counts of fraud in the Northern District Court of Illinois.

The US said it would seek the extradition of two of the distributors: Oswaldo Aulestia-Bach, 62, of Barcelona, and Elio Bonfiglioli, 53, of Monsummano, Italy.

'Con artists should not be confused with master artists,' Patrick Fitzgerald, attorney for the Northern District Court of Illinois, said in a statement. 'These indictments are important because they extend across international borders from one end of the supply chain to the other.'

The works were sold to customers in the US, Europe, Canada, Australia and Japan, the Justice Department said.