Palm Beach art dealer Daniel Elie Bouaziz was sentenced Tuesday to 27 months in prison for money laundering, after masterminding a scheme to sell fake artwork from world-famous artists out of his galleries. Bouaziz, who painted himself as an art appraiser and dealer to his clients, sold victims cheap replicas of famous works—claiming them to be authentic works from artists such as Banksy, Andy Warhol, and Georgia O’Keefe, among others—at exorbitant prices. “Bouaziz purchased a Warhol reproduction for $100.00 and then sold it to a victim as an original for $85,000.000,” wrote FBI Special Agent Marc Gervasi in the original criminal complaint. Investigators found that he used the funds to buy luxury cars, watches and even a “Tommy Gun.” As it turns out, not only was Bouaziz peddling fake paintings, but he wasn’t allowed to own or work at an art gallery at all under U.S. law, given his status as a French citizen.
