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Tag: crime

Man arrested for faking a series of Damien Hirst prints, evidently that man is not Damien Hirst

Vincent Lopreto was arraigned on Monday in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, pleading not guilty to several counts of grand larceny and fraud. Police picked up Lopreto and two associates after he sold fake Hirst prints to four Manhattan residents and an undercover investigator. Lopreto was also arrested in 2013, eventually pleading guilty to selling $1.5 million in forged art. In that case, he testified against an accomplice to receive a lighter sentence. Following his 2015 release, Lopreto revived his forgery operation almost immediately. Although he focused on relatively easy-to-fake Hirst works, which he sold to collectors at modest prices ($3,000–$5,000), Lopreto also attempted to pass off more complex pieces at higher costs. However, these fakes—including prints of Mickey Mouse in the style of Hirst—soon caused him difficulties. “The Mickeys are too hot,” Lopreto wrote in an email. “We need to get away from those.”

From the Failing New York Times

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