Italian Police Uncover $212 Million USD of Fake Art in Forgery Ring Bust

Italian police have uncovered a pan-European forgery ring responsible for producing and selling counterfeit artworks attributed to dozens artists including Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, Salvador Dalí and Banksy. As of November 11, the Carabinieri art squad and Pisa’s prosecutor’s office have announced that 38 individuals are currently under investigation for forgery, handling stolen goods and illegal art sales.

The investigation, codenamed “Operation Cariatide,” began in March 2023 when Italy’s art police confiscated 200 fake pieces, which included a Modigliani caryatid, from a businessman in Pisa. More recently, a string of suspicious online auctions led investigators to uncover the forgery network and six of their workshops – two in Tuscany, one in Venice and three abroad – where the replicas were created and stored, before landing in compliant auction houses. In total, authorities seized more than 2,100 fake artworks, with an estimated value of around $212 million USD, before they could hit the market.

Of the dozens of forged artists, the counterfeiters had their eyes on Banksy. Before they were caught, the suspects staged two exhibitions of the artist’s “work” at esteemed venues near Venice and Tuscany in order to boost credibility. On the heels of Monday’s bust, chief prosecutor Teresa Angela Camelio and experts from the Banksy archive praised the operation as “the biggest act of protection of Banksy’s work.”

The fakes have not only been seized, but many of them are now on display at the Palazzo Toscanelli in Pisa through November 15, 2024, offering the public a glimpse into the scale of the operation and the not-so-hidden world of forged art.

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