NJ father-daughter team accused of peddling fake Picassos, Warhols and more to NYC art houses plead guilty

Federal prosecutors obtained a blameworthy plea connected Wednesday from a father-daughter duo accused of selling counterfeit creation purported to beryllium from famed modern artists.

Erwin Bankowski, 50, and Karolina Bankowska, 26, are facing maximum sentences of 20 years successful prison, arsenic good arsenic restitution of up to $1.9 million. Prosecutors accidental the brace were selling "lies connected canvas," going truthful acold arsenic to make mendacious ownership histories for the counterfeit works they sold.

"These 2 individuals didn’t conscionable merchantability counterfeit creation – they undermined trust, exploited buyers, and attempted to nett from fraud. In this instance, the FBI with its partners has made it wide that those who manipulate the marketplace for idiosyncratic summation volition beryllium caught and held accountable," stated FBI Assistant Director successful Charge James Barnacle.

"From 2020 done 2025, the defendants, who are begetter and daughter, conspired to consign for auction implicit 200 counterfeit artworks.  The Counterfeit Works were allegedly painted by famed artists," the DOJ wrote successful a statement.

ANCIENT RARE CHINESE MANUSCRIPTS STOLEN IN ALLEGED SCHEME BY MAN USING MULTIPLE ALIASES

A suspected forgery of an Andrew Wyeth coating is seen astatine RoGallery successful New York, Tuesday, April 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Jake Offenhartz)

Those artists included Andy Warhol, Pablo Picasso, Banksy, Raimond Staprans, Richard Mayhew, and Native American creator Fritz Scholder.

"To marque immoderate of the Counterfeit Works look to beryllium legitimate, the defendants generated mendacious histories of anterior custody and ownership, besides known arsenic provenance. To bash so, they conducted probe to correspond falsely that immoderate of the Counterfeit Works had been successful backstage collections of individuals associated with the artists, had been owned by since-closed creation galleries, oregon had been successful the backstage collections of corporations that were nary longer successful operation," the DOJ wrote.

"The defendants chose galleries and corporations that were nary longer operating to marque it hard for galleries and imaginable buyers to verify the purported provenance of the Counterfeit Works," the connection added.

ELDERLY TEXAS WOMAN LEARNS FATE FOR DISTRIBUTING 150K DOSES OF FENTANYL THROUGH THE MAIL

The DOJ says the defendants consigned the fake pieces to creation galleries and auction houses passim the U.S., which past attempted to merchantability them to buyers for prices of up to $160,000.  Over the people of their scheme, the defendants defrauded victims retired of astatine slightest $2 million.

The begetter and girl — Polish citizens surviving successful New Jersey — pleaded blameworthy to ligament fraud conspiracy and misrepresenting Native American–produced goods, the second complaint stemming from their duplication of the Luiseño artist, Fritz Scholder.

In tribunal connected Tuesday, Bankowska told a justice that her "conduct was incorrect and I americium guilty." Her attorney, Todd Spodek, said his lawsuit had placed much than $1 cardinal successful an escrow account.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Through a Polish interpreter, Erwin Bankowski besides apologized. His attorney, Jeffrey Chabrowe, added that his lawsuit had "regrettably made a unspeakable determination successful an effort to enactment his family."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.