Keith Haring and Jean Michel Basquiat were two of the biggest artists during the decade of the 1980s. Their art was everywhere. Be it in the subway with Keith Haring’s chalk drawings, or the gallery’s that boasted Basquiat’s finest works. The two artists did collaborate with each other on some projects during their short time on earth, and also with Andy Warhol. These works are highly sought after as they were done in limited quantities and are very rare.
Factor in everything you read above and it sounds like music to the ears of art fraudsters. A 49 years old man, Angel Pereda, from Mexico was arrested in New York City when a yellow vase that was reportedly created by Haring and sold to auction houses, were not authenticated to be genuine. Along with a colorful painting by Haring and Basquiat done in collaboration, as well.
The Keith Haring Foundation determined the yellow vase and the colorful painting being offered to the two different New York auction houses were not genuine Harings, the FBI traced the pieces to Pereda.
Pereda was trying to sell forged art that he claimed had been created by famous artists, including Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring, for millions of dollars, according to the United States attorney for the Southern District.
In 2020 and 2021, Pereda started to approach auction houses in New York to sell artworks he claimed to be created by Basquiat and Haring, amongst others.
Authorities say Pereda attempted to pass off art as authentic by falsifying the provenance of the pieces, or creating fake ownership histories. A sting eventually brought him down.
“If real, such works would be worth millions,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said in a statement announcing the Friday arrest. “The alleged fakes have little or no value, except potentially as evidence of the alleged crime.”
Each year, “billions of dollars in forged artworks get sold,” said Christopher Marinello, CEO of Art Recovery International, which tracks down stolen art and assists collectors in getting works authenticated.
FBI Assistant Director William F. Sweeney Jr. said: “As we allege, Mr. Pereda conned art buyers, hoping his victims wouldn’t see the difference between real art and a forgery. He used their trust to his advantage by passing off worthless pieces as priceless works of art. Hopefully, this case provides a lesson to any others hoping to engage in similar behavior – the FBI’s Art Crime Team has the resources to distinguish the real from the fake, and its members will ensure you face the consequences of your actions.”
The sellers had wired thousands of dollars to an account Pereda held in Mexico, with bank records indicating the funds were for “purchasing a painting.”
One of the sellers began cooperating with law enforcement, and they prepared a sting. The seller called Pereda, saying that a supposed Basquiat painting, Glory Boys Kingdom, had been found to be fake, partly because of its suspicious provenance records.
Acting at the instruction of law enforcement, the seller told Pereda that if he could provide new provenance papers, they would be able to sell the painting for over $6 million. Pereda then sent a falsified document for the painting to the seller on WhatsApp.
