MIAMI (AP) — A South Florida art dealer has been sentenced to nearly four years in federal prison for a scheme that involved selling fake Andy Warhol artworks.
Leslie Howard Roberts, 63, was sentenced in Miami federal court this month to three years and 10 months after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He must also pay back nearly $2.6 million that he earned from the scheme.
Roberts, the owner of Miami Fine Art Gallery in Coconut Grove, was arrested in April 2025. According to court records, he fraudulently represented art as original pieces created by renowned artist Andy Warhol. Prosecutors said Roberts falsely claimed that he acquired the artwork directly from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and provided fake and fraudulent invoices.
“He exploited the trust that collectors place in art dealers and the authenticity of the works they purchase,” U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Jason Reding Quiñones said in a statement.
As part of the conspiracy, Carlos Rodriguez Melendez posed as an employee of a New York-based auction company and falsely authenticated artwork to conceal that it was forged, investigators said. Rodriguez Melendez pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud last year and was sentenced to probation.
Another South Florida art dealer was sentenced in 2023 to two years and three months in federal prison for selling fake Warhols. Daniel Elie Bouaziz, who owned two galleries in Palm Beach County, had pleaded guilty to a single count of money laundering, while prosecutors agreed to drop 16 other counts related to fraud and embezzlement.
Warhol was an American visual artist and filmmaker most associated with the pop art movement of the 1960s.
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