Florida art dealer pleads guilty to Warhol frame-up scheme

FORT PIERCE, Florida. A South Florida art dealer pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday in connection with a scheme involving the sale of counterfeit Andy Warhol paintings.

Daniel Elie Bouaziz, 69, pleaded one count of money laundering in Fort Pierce federal court, while prosecutors agreed to drop 16 other counts of fraud and embezzlement, according to court records. At his sentencing hearing on May 30, he faces up to 10 years in prison.

Prosecutors said Bouaziz, owner of Danieli Fine Art and Galerie Danieli in Palm Beach County, sold counterfeit art to a buyer in October 2021, including pieces believed to be Warhol’s.

According to investigators, Bouaziz told the buyer that the pieces he was selling for between $75,000 and $240,000 were genuine originals and that some of them were signed by the artist.

Officials said the client gave Bouazis an initial $200,000 deposit, which was transferred to Bouazis’s account, and then the mixed funds were transferred to other accounts.

Warhol was an American artist and filmmaker most associated with the pop art movement of the 1960s.

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