Chicago has a two-time art fraud felon in Michael Zabrin:

Zabrin, of north suburban Northbrook, was a member of a ring that earned millions of dollars selling phony art online and through tony galleries in Paris, Tokyo and Barcelona — and Chicago’s Michigan Avenue — over more than two decades.

“He’s an affable fraudster,” said James Tendick, a retired postal inspector who helped convict Zabrin in the early 1990s. “He can be smiling, shaking your hand and joking with you and at the same time he’s taking a big check for a print that he knows is fake.”

Last Wednesday, Zabrin, 58, was sentenced to nine years in prison for his role in the art-fraud ring. It’s the second time he’s been sent to prison for unloading phony prints on unsuspecting art lovers.

Fraudulent Art Dealer Convicted in Chicago (Chicago Tribune)