NJ father-daughter duo offered pretend Banksys and Warhols to NYC’s artwork homes in $2M rip-off
Slightly over a 12 months in the past, the New York Metropolis artwork vendor Robert Rogal acquired 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 his profession. Intrigued, Rogal accepted the piece on consignment, figuring it’d fetch between $20,000 to $30,000 at public sale.
“The provenance was slightly fuzzy,” he mentioned. “However she appeared credible. It wasn’t an apparent counterfeit.”
In truth, Rogal now believes the portray was a pretend — one in all at the least 200 rigorously designed imitations that federal prosecutors say Bankowska, 26, and her father Erwin Bankowski, 50, tried to cross off to unwitting patrons.
On Tuesday, the duo pleaded responsible to defrauding their victims — together with a few of New York Metropolis’s most outstanding high-quality artwork public sale homes — of at the least $2 million.
The counterfeits, which have been cast 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 mentioned.
Their most worthwhile pretend, purportedly by the artist Richard Mayhew, was offered by the public sale home DuMouchelles final October for $160,000.
A consultant for DuMouchelles mentioned that they had cooperated with federal authorities however weren’t approved to debate the sale additional. A number of different public sale homes focused within the scheme, together with Bonhams, Phillips, Freeman’s and Vintage Area, both declined or didn’t reply to inquiries.
The daddy and daughter — Polish residents dwelling 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 opportunity of greater than three years in jail beneath federal pointers, along with $1.9 million in restitution and doable deportation to Poland.
In courtroom on Tuesday, Bankowska instructed a choose that her “conduct was incorrect and I’m responsible.” Her legal professional, Todd Spodek, mentioned his shopper had positioned greater than $1 million in an escrow account.
By means of a Polish interpreter, Erwin Bankowski additionally apologized. His legal professional, Jeffrey Chabrowe, added that his shopper had “regrettably made a horrible resolution in an effort to assist his household.”
As information of the fakes reverberated across the artwork world, specialists described the scheme as a basic of the style — one that’s much more prevalent than some within the business want to admit.
“The one uncommon factor about this case is that the forgers obtained caught,” mentioned Erin Thompson, a professor of artwork crime on the Metropolis College of New York.
“Individuals consider the artwork world as a genteel place filled with cultured individuals who simply wish to share the marvel of lovely artwork,” she added. “You need to assume there are much more fakes on the market.”
Prosecutors mentioned the daddy and daughter started commissioning a Polish artist in 2020 to create the pretend artworks. Utilizing vintage paper, additionally they cast stamps to connect to the work, adopting the names of since-shuttered galleries the place a given artist may 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 cast portray, “Triple Boats,” on the market by an public sale home.
A number of days after the reps contacted the public sale home, the portray offered to a purchaser for $60,000, prosecutors mentioned.
Thompson, the professor of artwork crime, seen different irregularities as properly. The gallery stamp on the again of the faked Wyeth, for instance, listed its 12 months as 1976, however included a zoning handle quantity that had been phased out in 1962.
Coincidentally, maybe, the pretend stamp bore the title and handle for M. Knoedler & Co. Considered one of New York’s oldest and most esteemed industrial galleries, Knoedler closed down in 2011 amid allegations of making the most of forgeries of work by Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and others.
In the end, Rogal mentioned he by no means listed the Wyeth, partly as a result of the stamp on the again was “too clear.” When he known as Bankowska and instructed her to choose it up, she by no means responded.
On Tuesday, in a Queens warehouse brimming with consigned artwork items, Rogal reexamined the portray beneath the sunshine.
“You attempt to do a service and supply it accurately,” he mentioned. “Can we be fooled? Completely.”
