ORLANDO, FLORIDA: A prominent Florida art gallery trustees have filed a lawsuit against its former director, accusing him of conspiring to profit from the exhibition and sale of fake paintings attributed to Jean-Michel Basquiat, a neo-expressionist icon.
The lawsuit alleges the Florida man orchestrated a plan to make tens of millions of dollars in commissions from the sale and auction of these counterfeit artworks, reported The New York Times.
Who is Aaron De Groft?
Aaron De Groft, the former chief executive and director of the Orlando Museum of Art began the plan in 2022 when he curated an exhibition at the Orlando Museum of Art (OMA).
Titled 'Heroes and Monsters', the exhibition at the museum purportedly displayed never-before-seen pieces by famed artist Basquiat.
The artist became renowned for his affiliation with the visual artist Andy Warhol. Basquiat died at the age of 27 in 1988 due to a heroin overdose.
De Groft's alleged scheme gradually came under the radar in June 2022. FBI agents conducted a raid at the museum following a tip that the 25 art pieces were fake.
How did FBI find paintings exhibited at the Orlando Museum of Art were fake?
The authenticity of the artworks became suspicious when a consultant found that one of the pieces had a FedEx label on the back that featured a typeface that was introduced in 1994, six years after the death of Basquiat.
In April 2023, a Californian storage unit auctioneer confessed to creating the fraudulent art pieces in as little as five minutes and revealed that it was made by mimicking Basquiat's distinctive style by applying paint to cardboard offcuts.
The legal documents filed on Monday, August 14, contend that the former director De Groft was the main person behind the scheme.
The filings claimed that De Groft suggested that each painting could potentially fetch up to $200 million and demanded a substantial 30% cut of the sales proceeds sent to those who own the paintings.
Asserting his "expertise and access," the former director justified his role which he suggested was essential for a larger plan that involved the auction of artworks by other painters.
"You all could not do this without me," he allegedly wrote, and elsewhere stated, "I know you will do the math. I will retire with mazeratis [sic] and Ferraris."
Following the FBI raid, De Groft was terminated, however, he denied any wrongdoing.
The Orlando Museum of Art filed the lawsuit after they remained silent on the fraudulent case. As per the legal filings, the museum seeks unspecified damages for allegations including fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, conspiracy, and breach of contract.
