The owner and
an employee of an art gallery in Chicago's River North section and
a New York man have been indicted on federal fraud charges for
allegedly producing and/or selling counterfeit limited edition fine
art prints of renowned artists.
The charges stem from an international investigation of fraudulent artwork that became public in Chicago three years ago when federal agents executed search warrants at the Kass/Meridan Gallery (KMG), also doing business as Allegro Art, located on West Huron Street in Chicago.
In March 2008, seven defendants from Europe, Florida, New York, and Illinois were charged with fraudulently producing and/or selling $5 million worth of counterfeit fine art prints. Subsequently, two additional defendants were charged. The indictment announced today brings to 12 the total number of defendants who have been charged in Chicago as a result of this investigation.
The new indictment charges Alan Kass, owner, operator, and president of KMG, with 13 counts of mail and wire fraud in an indictment returned yesterday by a federal grand jury. Kass allegedly sold hundreds of counterfeit and unauthorized prints and other purported original artworks, supposedly by such artists as Alexander Calder, Salvador Dali, Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, Roy Lichtenstein, Joan Miro, Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, and Marino Marini, and fraudulently obtained more than $480,000 for these items from victims throughout the United States and other countries.
Kass, 73, of Chicago; Cade, 47, of Chicago, also known as “Alexander E. Swing,” and “Xander Swing,” who was charged with four counts of mail and wire fraud; and Panos, 64, primarily of New York, who was charged with one count of mail fraud, will be ordered to appear for arraignment at a later date in U.S. District Court in Chicago. The indictment seeks forfeiture of $480,000 from Kass.
Also indicted were Sawyer K. Cade, a KMG employee, and John Panos, of New York and Florida, who allegedly distributed counterfeit, unauthorized and forged artwork, which he sold to Kass and others throughout the country.
According to the indictment, Kass knowingly acquired counterfeit and unauthorized prints and other artworks from various sources including co-defendant Panos, a national art distributor who was a principal in Equity Art Brokers and Prestige Art, and co-schemer Michael Zabrin, of Northbrook, one of the nine defendants charged previously who was a principal in Fineartmasters and Zfineartmasters.
Kass allegedly knew that many of the counterfeit and unauthorized artworks that he acquired bore forged signatures and, in some cases, Kass and Panos allegedly caused false numerical or other markings to be placed on prints, making them appear to be part of a limited edition or works that were prepared for the artist’s own use. Kass and Cade then sold these artworks on eBay and at auctions, as well as through two Internet web sites that Cade maintained for KMG.
Kass and Cade also allegedly created and provided to some customers bogus “certificates of authenticity,” which Kass signed knowing they contained false representations about the artist, year of publication and the number in the purported limited edition.
