Fake Warhols and Banksys: Italian authorities break up massive art forgery network

By Jonny Walfisz & Jerry Fisayo-Bambi

Italian authorities have smashed a massive ring of art forgers that have been operating across Europe to sell and circulate illegal copies of famous artworks.

Fake Warhols, Banksys and Picassos were being forged by the network and then sold onto unsuspecting buyers through the help of complicit auction houses across the continent, the Italian culture ministry said.

A total of 38 people have been placed under investigation, including six in Spain, France and Belgium. Italian authorities say the network could have done €200 million in economic damage by flooding the art market with fake works.

More than 2,100 fake works were apprehended in seizures across Italy, France, Spain and Belgium. The works belonged to more than 30 internationally renowned artists, including Andy Warhol, Amedeo Modigliani, Banksy, Pablo Picasso, Joan Mirò, Francis Bacon, Wassily Kandinsky, Henry Moore and Gustav Klimt.

Six forgery workshops have been found as part of the operation, three of which were in Italy. Eurojust, the European Union agency for judicial cooperation, explained that the forgery network covered Spain, France and Belgium.

Most common among the forgeries were copies of Warhol and Banksy’s work, some of which had been exhibited and catalogued at Italian shows in Mestre and Cortona.

The breadth of the operation saw complicit auction houses issuing forged certificates and stamps of authenticity. Eurojust reports that around 500 of these documents have also been seized.

Authorities were first clued into the operation after a search of a Pisa businessman in March 2023 revealed 200 fake works of art. From there, the Italian officials started monitoring auction houses’ e-commerce sites for their involvement with the works.

The 38 people arrested are accused of conspiracy to forge and deal in contemporary art, Eurojust said.