LIer Indicted in $30M Fake Art Scheme

The Sands Point art dealer arrested in May for her role in an alleged $30 million art fraud has been indicted, according to U.S. District Attorney Preet Bharara. 

The seven-count indictment charges that Glafira Rosales, 56, sold more than 60 previously-unknown works of some art giants – from Jackson Pollock to Mark Rothko – over a 15-year period.

But Bharara alleges the artworks were all fakes. 

“Glafira Rosales knowingly peddled fakes to two Manhattan art galleries,” FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge George Venizelos said. “To prolong her scheme for a decade-and-a-half, not only the paintings were fake, but the stories behind them as well.”

Knoedler & Company’s, New York’s oldest art gallery until it closed in 2011, was one of Rosales victims, according to a New York Times report. The Times said the gallery handled at least 20 of the forged works, including one Pollock that resold for $17 million. 

A joint investigation by the IRS and FBI uncovered a scheme they say Rosales began in 1994.

Rosales is charged with one count of wire fraud, which carries a maximum of 20 years in prison; one count of money laundering, which carries a maximum of 20 years in prison; three false tax return charges, each of which carries a maximum of three years in prison; and two willful failure to file FBAR charges, each of which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. 

“The indictment depicts a complete circle of fraud perpetrated by Glafira Rosales – fake paintings sold on behalf of non-existent clients with money deposited into a hidden bank account," Bharara said. "The one thing about this story that is true is that this alleged fraud will be prosecuted.”

Rosales will be arraigned Friday at U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

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