Georgina Adam points out in the Financial Times that the four German art forgers who were recently sentenced got light prison terms and no further interest from German police:
“This is terrible for the art market,” says Berlin-based lawyer Friederike Gräfin von Brühl: “Unfortunately, criminal law is not there to clean up the market, but to punish the forgers. But it’s most unsatisfactory for the victims.”
One of these is Ingeborg Henze-Ketterer of the Swiss Henze and Ketterer gallery who bought fake Pechsteins from the German saleroom Lempertz. She believes the gang was responsible for at least 100 forgeries of Campendonk, Pechstein, Derain, Léger and other artists, and that they have infiltrated the open market.
“The German authorities made a horrible deal by not investigating further,” she says. “At the beginning we hired a private detective, and it took him just two days to discover that the ‘Jägers’ collection was completely mythical.”
Art Market: Case Closed (Financial Times)
