The former owner of a Coconut Grove art gallery raided by the FBI for the sale of fake Andy Warhol artwork was sentenced to prison, records showed.
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Leslie Roberts was sentenced Oct. 2 to 46 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release after pleading guilty to wire fraud conspiracy, according to new court documents.
The FBI last year had raided Roberts’ business, Miami Fine Art Gallery, amid an investigation into the fake artwork.
According to an indictment, Roberts sold art from the gallery that he fraudulently represented were original pieces created by Andy Warhol, falsely claiming he acquired the artwork directly from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.
To make them appear to be authentic Warhol pieces, Roberts used forged authentication documents purportedly provided by the Andy Warhol Art Authentication Board and used fraudulent identification numbers and fake stamps to create the appearance of authenticity, the indictment said.
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He even provided to one victim fake invoices that claimed to be from the Warhol Foundation, the indictment said.
Roberts received over 100 wire payments from victims involving hundreds of thousands of dollars between April of 2023 and May of 2024, the indictment said.
Prosecutors also said he engaged in money laundering, transferring around $240,000 in fraud proceeds from the gallery’s bank account to a personal bank account.
Court records showed Roberts would be assigned to a facility to address his medical needs.
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