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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Richard Luscombe

Florida museum chief tried to make millions from exhibition of fake Basquiat art, lawsuit claims

De Groft JeanMichel Basquiat Lawsuit Florida FBI OMA
Signs for the Jean-Michel Basquiat exhibit outside the Orlando Museum of Art, on 25 March 2022.
Signs for the Jean-Michel Basquiat exhibit outside the Orlando Museum of Art, on 25 March 2022. The show closed after FBI agents raided the museum in June 2022, having received a tip that the works were fakes. Photograph: Orlando Sentinel/TNS

Trustees of a Florida art gallery are suing its former director, claiming he conspired to cash in on the exhibition and sale of fake paintings purportedly by the neo-expressionist Jean-Michel Basquiat.

Aaron De Groft hoped to pocket tens of millions of dollars in commissions from auction of the works after “legitimizing” them during a 2022 show he arranged at the Orlando Museum of Art (OMA), according to the lawsuit filed in central Florida on Monday and reported by the New York Times.

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