Italian authorities have successfully dismantled a network of European art forgers who specialized in creating fake works attributed to renowned artists such as Warhol, Banksy, and Picasso. This operation involved the collaboration of 38 individuals, with six of them located in Spain, France, and Belgium. The network's illicit activities were estimated to have caused economic damage amounting to 200 million euros ($212 million) by flooding the art market with counterfeit pieces.
The seizures conducted in Italy, France, Spain, and Belgium resulted in the confiscation of 2,100 fake artworks attributed to over 30 famous artists, including Andy Warhol, Amedeo Modigliani, Banksy, Pablo Picasso, Joan Mirò, Francis Bacon, Wassily Kandinsky, Henry Moore, and Gustav Klimt. Eurojust, the European Union agency for judicial cooperation, revealed that forgers based in Spain, France, and Belgium were responsible for producing these fake works.
