A well known Coconut Grove artwork seller and one other South Florida man are dealing with federal fees for allegedly promoting solid Andy Warhol artworks utilizing faux invoices and phony authentication paperwork.
Leslie Roberts, 62, of Miami, who operated the Miami Effective Artwork Gallery in Coconut Grove, has been indicted on fees of wire fraud conspiracy and cash laundering. His alleged co-conspirator, 37-year-old Carlos Miguel Rodriguez Melendez of Sunny Isles Seaside, was additionally indicted on the wire fraud cost.
Federal prosecutors say Roberts falsely claimed to have acquired Warhol items immediately from the Andy Warhol Basis for the Visible Arts. He allegedly supplied solid invoices to again up his story, convincing victims that the artworks had been genuine. Rodriguez Melendez is accused of posing as an worker of a New York public sale home to help the deception and assist legitimize the forgeries.
In line with the indictment, Roberts laundered the proceeds from the fraudulent gross sales by transferring cash from his gallery’s enterprise account to his private account. Prosecutors cited wire transfers totaling $240,000, together with single transactions of $150,000, $40,000, and $50,000.
Roberts and Rodriguez Melendez had been arrested on April 9 and made their preliminary look in federal court docket in Miami the identical day. Each had been launched on bond and are scheduled to be arraigned on April 21.
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If convicted of the wire fraud conspiracy, the defendants resist 20 years in federal jail. If convicted of cash laundering, Roberts faces as much as 10 years in federal jail. A federal district court docket choose will decide any sentence after contemplating the U.S. Sentencing Pointers and different statutory elements.
U.S. Legal professional Hayden P. O’Byrne for the Southern District of Florida and Performing Particular Agent in Cost Brett Skiles of the FBI, Miami Area Workplace, made the announcement.
FBI Artwork Crime Group and FBI West Palm Seaside investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lindsey Lazopoulos Friedman and Joshua Paster are prosecuting it.
Assistant U.S. Legal professional Joshua Paster is dealing with asset forfeiture.
