Hilda Amiel, was a 70 year old grandmother from New York who was accused of masterminding the world’s largest fine art print counterfeiting operation. An operation which is conservatively estimated to have generated massive public losses at the retail level & was associated with four principal artists; Salvador Dali, Marc Chagall, Joan Miro and Pablo Picasso.
The figure was believed to be up to $1 billion dollars worldwide.
It was claimed that she, assisted by 'others', flooded the art market with prints purportedly by or attributed to Picasso and Dali and other great modernists in the eight years before she was arrested. But as public record has it, this tuned out to be a family affair.
Before her death, she was seen to be cooperating with lawyers having been arrested after 'Operation Bogart,' lead by U.S. Postal Inspector Jack Ellis, by making a lengthy videotape confession explaining how her late husband, Leon Amiel, who had started his career as a highly respectable dealer, was extremely close to some of the world's greatest artists such as Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso.
Hilda Amiel had told defence lawyers that the younger Amiel girls that were charged along with her with mail fraud for selling the fake Salvador Dali prints etc. couldn't possibly have known that the family business was illegitimate.
It was discovered in 1993 that Amiel had warehoused over 83,000 fake prints which themselves could have netted £325 million on the art market!. However, Hilda Amiel, died before her trial began, at the age of 71.
Police had charged Hilda Amiel, her daughters, Kathryn and Joanne and her granddaughter, Sarina, with conspiracy and mail fraud in connection with the sale of the fake prints through their company 'Original Artworks.' This was believed to be part of Leon Amiel Publishers Inc. and Amiel Book Distribution Corp. Both were founded by Hilda Amiel's late husband, Leon Amiel, who had died in 1988. (He was also implicated in a separate illicit art affair over Dali which is covered elsewhere on the Internet.)
The New York state jury found Kathryn Amiel guilty of some 23 counts of mail fraud, Joanne guilty of 15 counts of mail fraud and Sarina guilty of 18 counts of mail fraud
The Amiel women were sentenced on May 12, 1995 - Kathryn to six-and-a-half years, Joanne to three years and 10 months and Sarina to two years and nine months.
They began serving their federal prison terms in November 2000 after the rejection of their appeals.has it, this tuned out to be a family affair.
taken from :
http://www.freemanart.ca/Fakes_paintings_info_page.htm
Before her death, she was seen to be cooperating with lawyers having been arrested after 'Operation Bogart,' lead by U.S. Postal Inspector Jack Ellis, by making a lengthy videotape confession explaining how her late husband, Leon Amiel, who had started his career as a highly respectable dealer, was extremely close to some of the world's greatest artists such as Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso.
Hilda Amiel had told defence lawyers that the younger Amiel girls that were charged along with her with mail fraud for selling the fake Salvador Dali prints etc. couldn't possibly have known that the family business was illegitimate.
It was discovered in 1993 that Amiel had warehoused over 83,000 fake prints which themselves could have netted £325 million on the art market!. However, Hilda Amiel, died before her trial began, at the age of 71.
Police had charged Hilda Amiel, her daughters, Kathryn and Joanne and her granddaughter, Sarina, with conspiracy and mail fraud in connection with the sale of the fake prints through their company 'Original Artworks.' This was believed to be part of Leon Amiel Publishers Inc. and Amiel Book Distribution Corp. Both were founded by Hilda Amiel's late husband, Leon Amiel, who had died in 1988. (He was also implicated in a separate illicit art affair over Dali which is covered elsewhere on the Internet.)
The New York state jury found Kathryn Amiel guilty of some 23 counts of mail fraud, Joanne guilty of 15 counts of mail fraud and Sarina guilty of 18 counts of mail fraud
The Amiel women were sentenced on May 12, 1995 - Kathryn to six-and-a-half years, Joanne to three years and 10 months and Sarina to two years and nine months.
They began serving their federal prison terms in November 2000 after the rejection of their appeals.
