€200m fake art network busted with 38 indictments

An international criminal network dealing with counterfeit works of some of the world's most famous artists has been taken down in a European enforcement operation.

The takedown is the fruit of a year-and-a-half-long investigation by the Italian authorities, in cooperation with their counterparts in Belgium, France and Spain, which has resulted in 38 people being indicted.

The fake art recovered by the authorities included forged works by famous artists such as Banksy, Andy Warhol, Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró, Francis Bacon, Wassily Kandinsky, Gustav Klimt, Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh and Salvador Dalí, with estimated economic damage of €200m ($212m), according to Eurojust, which supported the investigation.

It revealed a network of forgers in Spain, France and Belgium who worked with several complicit auction houses in Italy to sell the pieces. In the sophisticated operation, exhibitions were organised throughout Italy and a catalogue of the art was published to make the sales appear legitimate, although it is understood that the pieces were seized before any of the fake pieces were bought by unsuspecting customers.

"Catching the forgers made it possible to avoid the works being auctioned off at prices close to the original works by the real artists," said Eurojust in a statement.

The investigation into the network began in March 2023, when Italian authorities found around 200 fake works of art during a search order against an entrepreneur.

This led investigators to monitor e-commerce platforms of auction houses to find similar works for sale and the sellers of these pieces. The investigation identified two forgers and two painting workshops that were used to produce the fake works of art, with the probe subsequently taken to the international level with 1,000 fake works of art and more than 500 forged certificates and stamps of authenticity after operations in Spain, France and Belgium.