Miami Art Dealer Charged with Selling Fake Andy Warhols
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Loading... - Abrasha Volkov
- 16 Apr 2025
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Leslie Roberts, a 62-year-old Miami art dealer, has been indicted for selling fake Andy Warhol works at his gallery, Miami Fine Art Gallery. He faces up to 10 years in prison. Roberts allegedly claimed that the prints were authenticated by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, but the foundation's authentication board was dissolved in 2011.
Carlos Miguel Rodriguez Melendez, 37, was also indicted for helping Roberts sell the fake Warhols. He allegedly posed as an employee of a New York-based auction company to authenticate the artwork.
Roberts has a history of selling fake art. In 2024, a family of art collectors sued him for selling them $6 million worth of fake Warhols. He has also faced lawsuits over faked Romero Britto and Peter Max paintings. In 2015, he received a 22-year prison sentence for selling fake Max paintings, but was released after serving time. His supervised release was revoked in 2018 after he tried to sell a fake Basquiat painting.
The FBI raided Miami Fine Art Gallery earlier this month, and Roberts was arrested and released on bond. The indictment was unsealed earlier this month, revealing the charges against Roberts and Rodriguez Melendez.
