Chicago: Four Americans, two Italians and a Spaniard have been arrested and charged with selling $5 million worth of counterfeit fine art prints all over the world, US and Spanish law enforcement officials said.

The counterfeit ring distributed thousands of fake prints by artists including Picasso, Chagall and Miro to Canada, Australia, Japan and Europe between July 1999 and October 2007, the officials said in a joint statement.

The fake prints, many sold online, netted the group more than $ 5mn, they added.

In Chicago, art dealer Michael Zabrin was charged with selling counterfeit fine prints chiefly through eBay and Jack Kennedy was charged with faking the signatures of famous artists on the prints.

Spaniard Oswaldo Aulesti-Bach, Italians Elio Bonfiglioli and Patrizia Soliani, and two art dealers in New York and Florida states were also arrested and charged in the scheme, the officials said.

If convicted of mail and wire fraud, the suspects could face maximum penalties of 20 years in prison and fines of $250,000.
Source : PTI