The US Attorney has filed charges against the central figure in the Knoedler forgery cases, Glafira Rosales. The government is using the tax case to bolster its claim that Rosales sold fake works of art to the gallery which then sold those works to collectors:
In contrast to the claims made by ROSALES, the investigation has revealed that:
- experts in the fields of art, art history, and materials science have concluded that at least several of the paintings sold by her are counterfeit;
- the Purported Swiss Client on whose behalf she claimed to sell most of the paintings to the Manhattan galleries never existed;
- the Purported Spanish collector on whose behalf she claimed to sell the remainder of the paintings to the Manhattan galleries never owned the paintings; and
- instead of passing along a substantial portion of the proceeds of the sale of the various paintings, she kept all or almost all of the proceeds, and transferred substantial portions to an account maintained by her then-boyfriend.
ROSALES filed tax returns that falsely claimed she had not kept all, or almost all of the proceeds from the sale of the purported clients’ paintings, when, in fact, she had. Further, there was no Swiss client and no Spanish collector. In total, she failed to report the receipt of at least $12.5 million of income for the years 2006 through 2008.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Charges Art Dealer With Hiding Millions Of Dollars In Income From Fraudulent Sales Of Artwork(Manhattan US Attorney)
