Fraud case of Andy Warhol forgeries occurs in the U.S., victim's family files lawsuit

(New York = Yonhap News) Correspondent Kim Yeon-sook = A large-scale fraud that forged works by famous pop art artist Andy Warhol was revealed in the United States, and the victim's family took legal action.

According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on the 12th (local time), American real estate investor Richard Perlman and his family recently filed a lawsuit for damages against more than six art dealers and related companies, including art dealers and galleries, in a Florida court.

For about 10 months starting in 2023, they purchased about 200 paintings and prints from a gallery in Miami, believing them to be genuine Warhol paintings. The total purchase amount amounts to $6.7 million (about 9 billion won).

In a complaint submitted to the court, the Perlman family claimed that they purchased these works after receiving an explanation that they came directly from the Andy Warhol Foundation. However, the Andy Warhol Foundation has not directly certified the authenticity of the work since 2012.

Afterwards, during the appraisal process, it was revealed that many of the purchased works were counterfeit.

The Perlman family claimed that some of the works were made in Peru and shipped to the United States, and that officials provided certificates and stamps to pass off the works as authentic.

It was reported that there were practices such as putting a fake appraisal stamp on the back of the canvas and writing a low amount on the shipping documents that was far from the actual value of the work.

The Perlman family first began to doubt the authenticity of the work when they showed the collection to Christie's in late 2023.

They invited Christie's experts to look at their collection of Warhol's representative subjects, including Queen Elizabeth II of England, singer Debbie Harry, and Superman.

When Christie's raised questions about some of the works, the family requested information from the seller, Leslie Roberts, to prove that they were authentic. A lawsuit was later filed against Roberts, and the case was settled with a settlement in January of this year.

Roberts pleaded guilty in connection with a separate art fraud case and is scheduled to be sentenced on the 24th.

It is pointed out that this incident is an example of the vulnerability of the high-priced art market, where the transaction process is unclear and fragmented.

“Most sales are private,” said Eric Thompson, a professor of art and criminology at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. “You could sell the same Andy Warhol piece every day and no one would notice.”