Today’s news that Glafira Rosales received a superseding indictment also raises the likelihood that Ms. Rosales is now cooperating with the Justice department. She seems to have given prosecutors the name of the forger and the information that her companion helped complete the process of “aging” the works so they could pass muster. Neither the boyfriend, Jose Carlos Bergantiños-Diaz, nor the unnamed forger have been indicted suggesting that prosecutors are moving up the value chain looking for a bigger target.
If Rosales is making a plea deal and her accomplices are not yet being charged, who is the target? The obvious implication is the persons who benefitted the most from transacting in fake works.
Investigators say Ms. Rosales sold 40 of the counterfeit works through Knoedler & Company, a venerable Upper East Side gallery that took in about $63 million from their sale. The gallery, which abruptly closed in November 2011, kept $43 million of that sum, and paid Ms. Rosales $20 million. Fakes sold through a second Manhattan dealer, Julian Weissman, brought in another $17 million, according to the indictment.
Meanwhile, the painter earned $5,400 for a painting in December 2005 and $7,000 for another in February 2008, the indictment said.
Ms. Rosales has pleaded not guilty and was released on bail earlier this week. Knoedler, its former president Ann Freedman, and Mr. Weissman have repeatedly said they believed the works they sold had been authentic.
Art dealer is believed to be cooperating with federal authorities in fakes case (The Art Newspaper)
One Queens Painter Created Forgeries That Sold for Millions, U.S. Says (NYTimes)
