Dealer Is Arraigned on Charges Related to Sale of Disputed Masterpieces
By COLIN MOYNIHAN
An art dealer from Long Island pleaded not
guilty Friday in Manhattan to charges that she laundered money and
evaded taxes as part of a scheme in which prosecutors contend she sold
dozens of fake paintings that she told customers had been created by
some of the most famous artists of the 20th century.
The dealer, Glafira Rosales, who has been held without bail since her arrest in May, entered a federal courtroom in Lower Manhattan handcuffed and dressed in a blue prison smock. She uttered only the words “not guilty” in a low voice when asked about the charges by Judge Katherine Polk Failla in Federal District Court.
On Wednesday, federal officials in Manhattan announced that Ms. Rosales had been indicted on seven counts of wire fraud, money laundering, filing false tax returns and failing to report foreign bank accounts. Prosecutors said that from 1994 to 2009 Ms. Rosales sold two prominent Manhattan galleries more than 60 works that she said were by artists like Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning, but the authorities say were, in fact, forgeries.
According to the indictment, Ms. Rosales laundered the proceeds of those sales by transferring money through foreign bank accounts, then hid the income generated by the scheme by filing false tax returns and failing to inform the United States government of the existence of the foreign accounts.
The government says Ms. Rosales received more than $33 million for the works and failed to declare at least $12.5 million of it as income.
The dealer, Glafira Rosales, who has been held without bail since her arrest in May, entered a federal courtroom in Lower Manhattan handcuffed and dressed in a blue prison smock. She uttered only the words “not guilty” in a low voice when asked about the charges by Judge Katherine Polk Failla in Federal District Court.
On Wednesday, federal officials in Manhattan announced that Ms. Rosales had been indicted on seven counts of wire fraud, money laundering, filing false tax returns and failing to report foreign bank accounts. Prosecutors said that from 1994 to 2009 Ms. Rosales sold two prominent Manhattan galleries more than 60 works that she said were by artists like Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning, but the authorities say were, in fact, forgeries.
According to the indictment, Ms. Rosales laundered the proceeds of those sales by transferring money through foreign bank accounts, then hid the income generated by the scheme by filing false tax returns and failing to inform the United States government of the existence of the foreign accounts.
The government says Ms. Rosales received more than $33 million for the works and failed to declare at least $12.5 million of it as income.
No comments:
Post a Comment