How a father and daughter duped NYC’s art world with fake Warhols and Banksys : NPR

NEW YORK — A bit of over a yr in the past, the New York City art supplier Robert Rogal obtained a go to to his personal showroom from a younger girl, who appeared keen to dump a household heirloom.

Introducing herself as Karolina Bankowska, she carried a framed portray signed by Andrew Wyeth, resembling the watercolor landscapes the celebrated artist had accomplished early in her profession. Intrigued, Rogal accepted the piece on consignment, figuring it’d fetch between $20,000 to $30,000 at public sale.

“The provenance was a little fuzzy,” he stated. “But she seemed credible. It wasn’t an obvious counterfeit.”

In reality, Rogal now believes the portray was a fake — one among at the least 200 fastidiously designed imitations that federal prosecutors say Bankowska, 26, and her father Erwin Bankowski, 50, tried to go off to unwitting consumers.

On Tuesday, the duo pleaded responsible to defrauding their victims — together with a few of New York City’s most outstanding positive art public sale homes — of at the least $2 million.

The counterfeits, which have been solid in Poland by an unnamed co-conspirator, have been usually reproductions of lesser-known works by outstanding and prolific artists, like Banksy and Andy Warhol, prosecutors stated. Their most worthwhile fake, purportedly by the artist Richard Mayhew, was bought by the public sale home DuMouchelles final October for $160,000.

A consultant for DuMouchelles stated they’d cooperated with federal authorities however weren’t licensed to debate the sale additional. Several different public sale homes focused within the scheme, together with Bonhams, Phillips, Freeman’s and Antique Arena, both declined or didn’t reply to inquiries.

The father and daughter — Polish residents residing in New Jersey — face expenses of wire fraud conspiracy and misrepresenting Native American–produced items, a cost stemming from their duplication of the Luiseño artist, Fritz Scholder.

They face the potential of greater than three years in jail underneath federal pointers, along with $1.9 million in restitution and doable deportation to Poland.

In courtroom on Tuesday, Bankowska instructed a decide that her “conduct was wrong and I am guilty.” Her legal professional, Todd Spodek, stated his shopper had positioned greater than $1 million in an escrow account.

Through a Polish interpreter, Erwin Bankowski additionally apologized. His legal professional, Jeffrey Chabrowe, added that his shopper had “regrettably made a terrible decision in an effort to support his family.”

As information of the fakes reverberated across the art world, consultants described the scheme as a traditional of the style — one that’s way more prevalent than some within the trade wish to admit.

“The only unusual thing about this case is that the forgers got caught,” stated Erin Thompson, a professor of art crime on the City University of New York.

“People think of the art world as a genteel place full of cultured people who just want to share the wonder of beautiful art,” she added. “You should assume there are a lot more fakes out there.”

Prosecutors stated the father and daughter started commissioning a Polish artist in 2020 to create the fake artworks. Using vintage paper, in addition they solid stamps to connect to the work, adopting the names of since-shuttered galleries the place a given artist might need plausibly proven their work.

It wasn’t lengthy earlier than the gross sales started to attract scrutiny. In March 2023, representatives for the artist Raimonds Staprans caught wind of a solid portray, “Triple Boats,” on the market by an public sale home. Just a few days after the reps contacted the public sale home, the portray bought to a purchaser for $60,000, prosecutors stated.

Thompson, the professor of art crime, seen different irregularities as effectively. The gallery stamp on the again of the faked Wyeth, for instance, listed its yr as 1976, however included a zoning handle quantity that had been phased out in 1962.

Coincidentally, maybe, the fake stamp bore the title and handle for M. Knoedler & Co. One of New York’s oldest and most esteemed business galleries, Knoedler closed down in 2011 amid allegations of making the most of forgeries of work by Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and others.

Ultimately, Rogal stated he by no means listed the Wyeth, partly as a result of the stamp on the again was “too clean.” When he referred to as Bankowska and instructed her to select it up, she by no means responded.

On Tuesday, in a Queens warehouse brimming with consigned art items, Rogal reexamined the portray underneath the sunshine.

“You try to do a service and provide it correctly,” he stated. “Can we be fooled? Absolutely.”