Miami – A art merchant from South Florida and another man face positions that involve the sale of Andy Warhol fake works of art, the authorities said.
Leslie Roberts, 62, from Miami, and Carlos Miguel Rodríguez Meléndez, 37, of Sunny Isles, were arrested Wednesday and made their initial appearances in the Federal Court of Miami, according to judicial records.
Defensor lawyer Nayib Hassan, who represents Rodríguez Meléndez, said his client maintains his innocence and hopes to present the complete facts in a court of justice. Roberts’s defense lawyer and Miami’s Fine Arts Gallery did not immediately respond to emails looking for comments on charges.
According to the accusation, Roberts, the owner of the Miami Arts Gallery in Coconut Grove, fraudulently represented art as original pieces created by renowned artist Andy Warhol. Prosecutors said Roberts falsely affirmed the victims who acquired the work of art directly from the Andy Warhol Foundation for visual arts and provided false and fraudulent invoices to the victims.
Roberts also transferred at least $ 240,000 in electronic fraud income from his bank account of the Miami Arts Gallery to a personal bank account, according to the accusation.
Rodríguez Meléndez falsely claimed to work for an auction company based in New York to fraudulently authenticate the work of art, hiding that the work of art was false, the researchers said.
Roberts is accused of participating in a conspiracy to sell forged art using false and fraudulent invoices and authentications, and Rodríguez Meléndez is responsible for participating in the conspiracy of wire fraud. They have been released on bail, with a position reading audience scheduled for April 21.
If he is convicted, Roberts faces up to 30 years in Prison and Rodríguez Meléndez faces 20.
Another art merchant from South Florida was sentenced in 2023 to two years and three months in a federal prison for selling false Warhols. Daniel Elie BouazizHe owned two galleries in Palm Beach County, declared himself guilty of a single money laundering charge, while prosecutors agreed to abandon another 16 charges related to fraud and embezzlement of embezzlement.
Warhol was an American visual artist and filmmaker more associated with the Pop Art Movement of the 1960s.
