Florida art dealer gets prison for scheme to sell fake Andy Warhol artworks
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Key Points:
- Leslie Howard Roberts, a South Florida art dealer, was sentenced to nearly four years in federal prison for selling fake Andy Warhol artworks and must repay nearly $2.6 million earned from the scheme.
- Roberts, owner of Miami Fine Art Gallery, falsely claimed the artworks were original Warhol pieces acquired from the Andy Warhol Foundation and provided fraudulent invoices to buyers.
- Carlos Rodriguez Melendez, involved in the conspiracy by posing as an auction company employee to authenticate forged artwork, pleaded guilty and received probation.
- Another dealer, Daniel Elie Bouaziz, was sentenced in 2023 to over two years in prison for selling fake Warhols and pleaded guilty to money laundering, with other fraud charges dropped.
- Andy Warhol was a prominent American visual artist and filmmaker known for his influential role in the 1960s pop art movement.
