A father and daughter from Lawrence, New Jersey, pleaded guilty last month to running a five-year scheme to sell more than 200 counterfeit works they claimed were by some of the most famous Modern and contemporary artists, defrauding buyers of at least $2m. Erwin Bankowski and his daughter, Karolina Bankowska, who are facing recommended terms of 33 to 41 months, respectively, entered their pleas on 28 April at a federal court in Brooklyn.
Among the counterfeit art are pieces intended to be sold as works by Andy Warhol, Pablo Picasso, Banksy, Raimond Staprans, and Native American artists including Fritz Scholder and Richard Mayhew. Between 2020 and 2025, the counterfeits were consigned to reputable galleries and auction houses across the United States, where they sold for prices ranging from $2,000 for a fake Banksy protest print to $160,000 for a counterfeit landscape attributed to Mayhew. The defendants claimed pieces had passed through private collections associated with the original artists or had been held by galleries and corporations that had since closed. In some cases, they also affixed forged gallery stamps and certificates of authenticity to aged paper.
“For years, these defendants painted themselves as purveyors of fine art while selling lies on canvas to unsuspecting collectors,” Joseph Nocella Jr, a US attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement. The duo’s “convictions strip away the varnish and reveal the fraud underneath”.
Among the charges is a rarely invoked count under the Indian Arts and Crafts Act, which prohibits falsely marketing goods as having been made by Native American artists. The prosecutors are seeking restitution of at least $1.9m. Jeffrey Chabrowe, a lawyer for Erwin Bankowski, told The New York Times his client accepted responsibility and had ”made a terrible decision to support his family”. Todd Spodek, a lawyer representing Bankowska, said she had likewise taken responsibility for her crimes.
