NEW YORK – A man who authorities said was trying to sell fake art by artists like Jean-Michael Basquiat and Keith Haring has been arrested on federal fraud charges.
Manhattan federal prosecutor Audrey Strauss said real works are worth millions while fake ones are “useless,” in a complaint revealed Friday in federal court in Manhattan.
Prosecutors allege that Angel Pereda, 49, of Mexico, “scammed art buyers” who he hoped they wouldn’t realize the art was forged into a scheme from around 2020 until this year.
Prosecutors also note that Pereda allegedly falsified the ownership history of the fake artwork on at least one occasion when an individual told him that the registration was found to be fraudulent.
Efforts to contact Pereda were unsuccessful.
Brooklyn-born Basquiat rose to prominence as a graffiti artist in the late 1970s.
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