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

NEW YORK — A bit of over a yr in the past, the New York Metropolis artwork seller Robert Rogal acquired a go to to his non-public 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 just a little fuzzy,” he stated. “However she appeared credible. It wasn’t an apparent counterfeit.”

In truth, Rogal now believes the portray was a faux — one in all a minimum of 200 fastidiously 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 a minimum of $2 million.

The counterfeits, which have been solid in Poland by an unnamed co-conspirator, have been typically reproductions of lesser-known works by outstanding and prolific artists, like Banksy and Andy Warhol, prosecutors stated. Their most worthwhile faux, 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. 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 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 for greater than three years in jail below federal tips, along with $1.9 million in restitution and attainable deportation to Poland.

In courtroom on Tuesday, Bankowska instructed a decide that her “conduct was improper and I’m responsible.” Her lawyer, Todd Spodek, stated his consumer had positioned greater than $1 million in an escrow account.

By a Polish interpreter, Erwin Bankowski additionally apologized. His lawyer, Jeffrey Chabrowe, added that his consumer had “regrettably made a horrible determination in an effort to help his household.”

As information of the fakes reverberated across the artwork world, consultants described the scheme as a basic of the style — one that’s way more prevalent than some within the business want to admit.

“The one uncommon factor about this case is that the forgers obtained caught,” stated Erin Thompson, a professor of artwork crime on the Metropolis College of New York.

“Folks consider the artwork world as a genteel place stuffed with cultured individuals who simply wish to share the surprise of lovely artwork,” she added. “You must assume there are much more fakes on the market.”

Prosecutors stated the daddy and daughter started commissioning a Polish artist in 2020 to create the faux artworks. Utilizing vintage paper, additionally they solid 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 solid 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 bought to a purchaser for $60,000, prosecutors stated.

Thompson, the professor of artwork crime, observed 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 faux stamp bore the identify 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 stated he by no means listed the Wyeth, partially as a result of the stamp on the again was “too clear.” When he referred to 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 below the sunshine.

“You attempt to do a service and supply it accurately,” he stated. “Can we be fooled? Completely.”