Authorities in Europe have dismantled an international criminal network involved in forging and selling counterfeit artworks by some of the most renowned artists in history.
The operation, led by Italian authorities and supported by law enforcement in Belgium, France, and Spain, resulted in 38 people being indicted after an 18-month investigation. The counterfeit works, which included fake pieces attributed to icons like Banksy, Andy Warhol, Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró, and Vincent van Gogh, could have caused economic damages estimated at €200 million ($212 million), according to Eurojust, the EU agency assisting the case.
Investigators uncovered a sophisticated operation spanning several countries. The forgers, based in Spain, France, and Belgium, worked with auction houses in Italy to sell the counterfeit pieces. To legitimize the sales, exhibitions were organized across Italy, and even a glossy catalogue was published. Authorities, however, managed to seize the fake artworks before any unsuspecting buyers were caught in the scheme.
“Catching the forgers made it possible to avoid the works being auctioned off at prices close to those of the original pieces,” Eurojust said in a statement.
The investigation began in March 2023, when a search of an entrepreneur’s property in Italy turned up around 200 fake works of art. From there, authorities began monitoring e-commerce platforms associated with auction houses, identifying suspicious listings and tracing them back to their sources. This led to the discovery of two forgers and two workshops used to produce the counterfeits.
As the probe expanded internationally, authorities uncovered 1,000 fake artworks and over 500 forged certificates and stamps of authenticity during operations in Spain, France, and Belgium.
Thanks to the cooperation of multiple agencies, a network that combined skillful forgeries with a veneer of legitimacy has been stopped in its tracks.
