Full Breakdown
Miami Art Dealer Sentenced for Selling Counterfeit Warhols
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Core Event
A South Florida art dealer was sentenced this month in Miami federal court to 46 months in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Leslie Howard Roberts, the owner of Miami Fine Art Gallery in Coconut Grove, was ordered to serve the term and to repay nearly $2.6 million earned from the scheme.
Scheme Details
Roberts fraudulently represented the works as original pieces by Andy Warhol, claiming they were sourced directly from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. He supplied buyers with fabricated invoices that appeared to come from the foundation, as well as forged authentication documents bearing the name of the Andy Warhol Art Authentication Board and counterfeit signatures. To bolster the deception, he used falsified foundation identification numbers and stamps on the backs of the artworks. Roberts enlisted Carlos Rodriguez Melendez to pose as an employee of a New York-based auction company and to provide false authentication for the forgeries.
Official Statements & Responses
U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Jason Reding Quiñones described the case as an exploitation of collectors’ trust in dealers and authenticity guarantees. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Daniel Rosenfeld and Lindsey Lazopolous Friedman led the prosecution, while U.S. District Judge Roy K. Altman imposed the prison term. The FBI Art Crime Team and the FBI office in West Palm Beach conducted the investigation.
Data & Statistics
- Prison sentence: 46 months (approximately three years and ten months).
- Restitution: nearly $2.6 million.
- Prior similar conviction: In 2023, another South Florida dealer, Daniel Elie Bouaziz, received a two-year-three-month sentence for selling counterfeit Warhols.
Conflicting Reports & Gaps
The two sources differ on Roberts’s age: one identifies him as 63 years old, while the other lists him as 62. No additional details on the total number of forged pieces sold or the identities of the buyers were provided.