West Hollywood, California (January 11, 2010) - The United States Attorney named a West Hollywood antiques dealer in a federal fraud case involving the $2 million sale of a fake Pablo Picasso that she paid an artist $1,000 to counterfeit. 
The $2 million sale of this fake Pablo Picasso ended up costing a WeHo gallery owner her reputation, and perhaps, her freedom. Photo by WeHo News. |
FBI agents informed Tatiana Khan was informed of the charges on Friday when they seized a $700,000 de Kooning painting that prosecutors allege she purchased with proceeds derived from the sale of the bogus Picasso.
Ms. Khan, age 69, who owns and resides at the Chateau Allegré gallery on La Cienega Boulevard, allegedly hired an artist to fabricate the Picasso drawing – a 1902 pastel called “La Femme Au Chapeau Bleu,” or “The Woman in the Blue Hat” – by giving the artist a photo of the drawing and telling her the real Picasso artwork had been stolen from one of Ms. Khan's clients and that she needed the copy to play a trick that would help catch the thief.
Ms. Khan paid the artist $1,000 for the fake Picasso in 2006, and soon after Khan sold the drawing for $2 million.
A criminal complaint filed in United States District Court on Thursday afternoon alleges that Khan told the purchaser that the fake Picasso was worth much more than $2 million, but that she was able to sell it for less than market value because it came from the Malcolm Forbes family estate.
Ms. Khan allegedly told the purchaser that she was acting as the broker for the Forbes family, which wanted their paintings sold privately due to a dispute within the family.
WeHo News. |
The FBI began investigating the sale of the artwork in 2009 after the purchaser contacted a Picasso expert, who suggested the counterfeiting.
Ms. Khan allegedly contacted the artist who made the copy after the FBI contacted her and told the artist not to divulge that she had created scheme.
According to the complaint, when the FBI interviewed her, Ms. Khan claimed that she obtained the drawing from a cosmetologist who worked near Chateau Allegré as collateral for a $40,000 loan.
The criminal complaint charges Khan with wire fraud, making false statements to the FBI and witness tampering and the summons delivered directed Ms. Khan to appear in federal court for an initial appearance on January 27.
The FBI also seized a painting by abstract expressionist artist Willem de Kooning that Khan allegedly purchased with $720,000 of the proceeds derived from the fraudulent sale of the fake Picasso as they served the summons.
If convicted of the charges alleged in the criminal complaint, Ms. Khan faces a statutory maximum sentence of 45 years in federal prison.
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