Miami art dealer sentenced to nearly four years for selling counterfeit Warhols
Leslie Howard Roberts, owner of Miami Fine Art Gallery, received a three-year-ten-month federal prison term for a scheme that sold fake Andy Warhol pieces and must repay about $2.6 million.
In Miami federal court, Leslie Howard Roberts, the proprietor of Miami Fine Art Gallery in Coconut Grove, was sentenced to three years and ten months in prison for a fraud scheme that involved selling counterfeit Andy Warhol artworks. Roberts admitted to conspiring to commit wire fraud and was ordered to return nearly $2.6 million earned from the deception. He falsely claimed the pieces came directly from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and backed the claims with fabricated invoices.
The conspiracy also involved Carlos Rodriguez Melendez, who posed as an employee of a New York auction firm and provided false authentication, receiving a sentence of probation. U.S. Attorney Jason Reding Quiñones highlighted the breach of collector trust. This conviction echoes a 2023 case where South Florida dealer Daniel Elie Bouaziz was sentenced for similar Warhol forgeries.
Why it matters
The sentencing underscores the risks of art fraud and the legal consequences for dealers who mislead collectors.
In this story
