Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall and Andy Warhol were among artists whose works were counterfeited by seven people indicted for two art-fraud schemes that reaped a combined $5 million. Those charged include three Europeans and residents of New York, Florida and Illinois, Chicago U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said today in a statement. They sold thousands of fake prints in the U.S., Canada, Australia, Japan and Europe, he alleged. "Most of us have never owned a work of art signed by Picasso," Fitzgerald said today at a press conference. Some people who believed they did, he added, "bought fakes". Some of the prints in the scam were sold on EBay Inc., the world's largest online auctioneer, Fitzgerald alleged. Others were funneled through two art dealers in Northbrook, Illinois, prosecutors claimed. The counterfeiting included the reproduction of actual works by the artists as well as the sale of fakes executed in each one's particular style, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Nancy Miller, one of the prosecutors assigned to the case. Fitzgerald urged art buyers to be wary. "Proceed with caution and seek guidance," he said. Déjà vu "I've been watching this for 30 years," said attorney and art law specialist Scott Hodes, a partner in the Chicago office of the St. Louis-based Bryan Cave law firm. He attended today's press conference as an interested on-looker. Noting that similar reports involving the same artists have appeared in the press since the late 1980s, he said, "It's like déjà vu all over again." Hodes, who said he represents conceptual artists Christo and Jeanne Claude and has worked for the Art Institute of Chicago, ascribes the prevalence of forgeries involving Picasso, Alexander Calder and the others to their popularity. "These are the highest-profile artists that we have, but they're gone," he said."They're dead." While they were alive, he added, "they were very prolific. People know who they are." Some of the forgeries were made in Spain and Italy, Fitzgerald said. Others were created by one of the defendants, Leon Amiel Jr. of New York. Amiel was indicted with art dealer James Kennedy of Northbrook, Illinois. Amiel allegedly distributed 2,500 counterfeit prints of work by Chagall and Calder. Kennedy is accused of traveling the country selling fakes as genuine limited-edition prints. The duo face nine counts of fraud and a demand to forfeit $1 million. Importing Forgeries Kennedy's lawyer, Michael B. Mann of Maywood, Illinois, declined to comment on the allegations. In the larger of two cases, five people face 10 counts of fraud for their roles in importing forgeries from Europe and selling them through another Northbrook art dealer, Michael Zabrin. Prosecutors seek to recover $4 million from these defendants, Fitzgerald said. "Michael has been cooperating significantly with the authorities and intends to continue to do so," his attorney, Jeffrey Steinback of Chicago, said in a telephone interview. Steinback negotiated a plea agreement for Chicago criminal defendant Stuart Levine -- a key prosecution witness in the trial of political fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko -- and represented ex-Hollinger International Inc. chairman Conrad Black during the sentencing phase of his case last year. Fine Print Hodes said that he helped draft an Illinois law called the "Fine Print Disclosure Act," which requires art dealers to reveal the origin of works they sell and gives aggrieved buyers a right to recover up to three times the purchase price of the work as damages. "Buyers don't know if it's the real thing," he said. With the indictments, "now the public has been stroked and awakened." Of the seven defendants, only Kennedy is now in custody, Fitzgerald said. He is due to appear in court on March 24. The cases are U.S. v. Kennedy, 08cr009, and U.S. v. Soliani, 07cr521, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division (Chicago).

来源：雅昌艺术网