Miami art dealer sentenced to nearly 4 years for selling fake Warhols

A South Florida art dealer was sentenced in Miami federal court to three years and 10 months in prison for a scheme involving the sale of fake Andy Warhol artworks, according to the Associated Press reported by standardspeaker.com and mymotherlode.com.

Leslie Howard Roberts, 63, owner of Miami Fine Art Gallery in Coconut Grove, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He was also ordered to repay nearly $2.6 million earned from the fraudulent sales, the AP reported.

Court records show Roberts falsely claimed the artworks were original Warhol pieces and that he acquired them directly from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. He also provided fake invoices, prosecutors said, as reported by standardspeaker.com.

The scheme involved Carlos Rodriguez Melendez, who posed as an employee of a New York auction company and falsely authenticated the forged artworks. Melendez pleaded guilty last year and received probation, according to the AP.

This case follows a similar 2023 conviction of another South Florida art dealer sentenced to over two years in federal prison for selling fake Warhols, indicating ongoing scrutiny of art fraud in the region.

The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida highlighted the betrayal of trust involved in the scheme, emphasizing the impact on collectors and the art community in Miami and beyond.