A New York art dealer has pleaded guilty to being
involved in a 15-year multi-million dollar art fraud.
Glafira Rosales
admitted she defrauded two Manhattan art galleries of more than $30m (£18m)
with 63 fake art pieces.
The paintings
were said to be never-before-exhibited and previously unknown works of art by
artists including Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko.
They were sold
to unsuspecting buyers for more than $80m (£50m).
Rosales pleaded
guilty to nine charges including wire fraud, tax fraud and money laundering.
She admitted in
court that the works of art "were actually fakes created by an individual
residing in Queens''.
The artist who
painted the fakes, 73-year-old Pei-Shen Qian, won't be charged and has returned
to his native China, prosecutors said.
Rosales earned
millions selling counterfeits to the Knoedler Gallery and Julian Weissman Fine
Art in Manhattan.
As part of a
plea deal, she was told she must forfeit $33m (£20m), and restitution in an
amount up to $81m (£50m) that has yet-to-be-decided.
She also must
give up her home in Long Island and art she purchased between 1994 and 2012.
However, the
deal also stated prosecutors promise not to bring charges related to further
crimes including a fraudulent marriage between Mexican-born Rosales and a US
citizen.
Rosales will be
sentenced in March and prosecutors say more people will be charged in the art
fraud case.
Source: BBC
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