A father-daughter counterfeiting team admitted in Brooklyn court Tuesday they forged documents to help sell fake art by Banksy, Andy Warhol, Pablo Picasso and others to unsuspecting buyers.
Erwin Bankowski, 50, and his daughter, Karolina Bankowska, 26, teamed up with an art forger in Poland to sell more than 200 fake pieces between 2020 and 2025, netting at least $2 million in the process.
For their part of the scheme, the duo, both Polish citizens living in Lawrence, N.J., came up with elaborate fake ownership histories, or provenances, for each of the forged pieces.
The counterfeits, they claimed, had previously been owned by defunct art galleries and private collections of dissolved corporations, making it difficult for galleries and potential buyers to independently verify their bona fides.
Both pleaded guilty Tuesday in Brooklyn federal court to wire fraud conspiracy and misrepresentation of Native American produced goods and products.
They’ll have to pay $1.9 million in restitution, and could face up to roughly three-and-a-half years behind bars based on federal sentencing guidelines.
“For years, these defendants painted themselves as purveyors of fine art while selling lies on canvas to unsuspecting collectors,” stated U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella. “Today’s convictions strip away the varnish and reveal the fraud underneath.”
Bankowski, the dad, researched the artists’ lives, “as well as the names of shuttered art galleries and dissolved corporations that were operating in or around the time that the counterfeit works were purportedly created,” according to a filing by federal prosecutors.
The daughter, Bankowska, would in turn research the shuttered galleries, sending images of those galleries’ certificates of authenticity to their conspirator in Poland, who used design software to create fake certificates to go with the counterfeit artwork.
The dad ordered custom-made stamps created with the forged certificates of authenticity, and the duo bought antique books so they could imprint those stamps onto aged paper to make the certificates look more convincing.
A fake Warhol bought by a dealer at auction was sold later for $5,500, while a fake Banksy netted $2,000. Another piece, a bogus sculpture by Vietnamese artist Vu Cao Dam, was sold for approximately $32,000.
One gallery, not named in court filings, appeared to sell a painting purportedly by artist Raimond Staprans despite despite knowing it was a forgery, according to court documents. The gallery got a signed statement from the artist on March 3, 2023 that the work was fake, but still sold it eight days later for $60,000, federal prosecutors allege.
And last October, a buyer spent $160,000 at an auction house for a fake purported to have been painted by famed American landscape artist Richard Mayhew, who died in September 2024.
They’re slated to be sentenced before Brooklyn Federal Court Judge Nicholas Garaufis Aug. 5.
“At just 26, Karolina Bankowska has accepted full responsibility, placed all funds into escrow for return, and is taking real steps toward accountability.” said defense attorney Todd Spodek, who represents Bankowska. “This case is no longer about the mistakes she made, but about ensuring Judge Garaufis sees her genuine remorse, rehabilitation, and the powerful possibility of redemption.”
Bankowski’s lawyer, Jeffrey Chabrowe, said, “Mr. Bankowski, regrettably, made a terrible decision to support his family but now is doing everything in his power to right those wrongs and accept responsibility for his actions.”