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Florida Art Dealer Charged with Fraud

Daniel Elie Bouaziz, an art dealer in Palm Beach Florida, has been arrested by the FBI. The charges are varied, from wire fraud, to money laundering and selling art forgeries. The dealer had two art galleries that he sold out of: Danieli Fine Art and Galerie Danieli. He was caught when he sold an alleged piece by Basquiat to an undercover FBI agent for $12 million. An expert that was previously linked to the artist’s estate verified it was a fake. The Orlando Museum of art was in the process of organizing an exhibit on the artist when the FBI began its investigation into the validity of all the pieces.

He is charged with selling fake art by artists such as Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat and others. They even have fake seals of authenticity with them. He has also been accused of selling fake works by Banksy, Henri Matisse and many more. An undercover agent also bought a Lichtenstein print for $25,000. As part of his scheme, he would purchase low cost reproductions off of online auction sites, then sell them at a considerably higher mark up and claim they were originals.

The FBI claims that the art dealer has a long list of victims, many of which have tried to contact the man to demand their money back. Right now Bouaziz is facing charges that could carry a maximum sentence of up to 20 years in prison. His trial began May 27^th and is expected to last weeks. The FBI had issued search warrants for a number of galleries to collect evidence, as well as pieces from private collectors who are part of the complaint.

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