Huge criminal network around Banksy, Warhol and Picasso uncovered in Italy

Rome, Italy
Reuters
—

Italian police have uncovered a large Europe-wide counterfeiting network producing and selling counterfeit works of art attributed to some of the biggest names in modern and contemporary art, including Banksy, Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol.

Thirty-eight people were being investigated in Italy, Spain, France and Belgium on suspicion of conspiring to handle stolen goods, counterfeit and illegally sell works of art, the Carabinieri paramilitary art police and Pisa prosecutors said in a joint statement on Monday .

Pisa's chief prosecutor, Teresa Angela Camelio, said experts from the Banksy archives who assisted in the investigation viewed Monday's operation as “the greatest act to protect Banksy's work.”

Pest Control, the office representing the artist, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Its website says counterfeits are widespread and urges people who want to buy Banksy pieces to be wary of “expensive fakes.”

Other artists allegedly faked included giants of 19th and 20th century art such as Claude Monet, Vincent Van Gogh, Salvador Dalí, Henry Moore, Marc Chagall, Francis Bacon, Paul Klee and Piet Mondrian.

Investigators said they seized more than 2,100 counterfeit pieces with a potential market value of about 200 million euros ($215 million) and discovered six forgery workshops, including two in Tuscany, one in Venice and the rest elsewhere in Europe.

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They said their investigation began in 2023, when they seized about 200 counterfeit pieces from a businessman's collection in Pisa, including a copy of a drawing by Italian painter Amedeo Modigliani.

That led them to forgeries being sold by auction houses across Italy and linked them to a well-known group believed to specialize in Banksy and Warhol forgeries.

To bolster their credibility, the unnamed suspects organized two Banksy exhibitions with a published catalog at prestigious locations in Mestre, near Venice, and Cortona in Tuscany, investigators said.