Michael Barzman sold paintings created in ‘maximum of 30 minutes’ by accomplice, justice department says
, Michael Barzman, 45, a storage unit auctioneer from North Hollywood, California, saw an opportunity to make money by replicating the works of the artist, who died of a heroin overdose in 1988 at the age of 27.
Together with his sidekick, known only by the initials JF, Barzman sold the fakes on eBay, using the cover story that they were discovered after years hidden in an abandoned storage locker. Barzman and his co-conspirator would leave their forgeries outside to age them, the justice department said. But thethat the scam was exposed when a consultant spotted a FedEx label on the backside of one of the fakes used a typeface not introduced until 1994, six years after Basquiat’s death.
The museum presented the collection as paintings Basquiat created on offcuts of cardboard in late 1982, while he was living in Venice, California. “JF spent a maximum of 30 minutes on each image and as little as five minutes on others, and then gave them to Barzman to sell. [They] agreed to split the money that they made,” according to a plea deal Barzman signed admitting lying to FBI agents about the fraud.“For decades Mr Barzman was unable to get health insurance while battling cancer.
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