"German police say they've broken up an international art forgery ring that tried to sell works purportedly by Pablo Picasso, Rembrandt, Frida Kahlo and others for tens of millions of dollars to unsuspecting collectors. The scheme was allegedly led by a 77-year-old German man from Bavaria with the help of ten accomplices, according to a press release from the Bavarian State Criminal Police Office."
"Investigators say they discovered the fraud when the main suspect tried to sell two supposedly original Picasso works, including a portrait of the Spanish painter's muse Dora Maar. The unnamed ringleader apparently also tried to sell a copy of a world-famous painting by the Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn known as The Syndics, a 17th century portrait of members of Amsterdam's cloth makers' guild, for roughly $150 million."
German police broke up an international art forgery ring that attempted to sell works attributed to Pablo Picasso, Rembrandt, Frida Kahlo and others for tens of millions of dollars. The operation was led by a 77-year-old man from Bavaria with ten accomplices. Investigators discovered the scheme when the main suspect tried to sell two allegedly original Picasso works, including a portrait of Dora Maar. The ringleader also offered a copy of Rembrandt's The Syndics for roughly $150 million while the original remains in the Rijksmuseum. Other purported items included Picasso ceramic vases, a Modigliani, and works attributed to Rubens, Miró and van Dyck. One accomplice produced counterfeit expert reports, and coordinated searches in Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein recovered suspected forgeries for analysis.
Read at www.npr.org
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