Pastor Caught Selling Fake Damien Hirst Spin Art

After a few straight days of posting on art market trends and analytics I have something a little lighter today.  The NY Times is reporting that a Florida real estate agent, who is also a pastor as well as an art dealer has been arrested for 2nd degree attempted larceny in attempting to sell fake Damien Hirst spin art.  The pieces were first offered to Sotheby's who passed informtion along to the police.

The NY Times reports

By the end of January, Sotheby’s authentication service, Science Ltd., had determined that the work was a forgery, a prosecutor said in court. But before Sotheby’s notified Mr. Sutherland of that, it would seem that they also notified law enforcement authorities.

On Jan. 29, an undercover detective from the New York Police Department sent Mr. Sutherland, 45, an e-mail asking if he had any of Mr. Hirst’s work for sale. Mr. Sutherland told the undercover officer he did but would not know whether they were available for sale for a few weeks, apparently when he expected to hear from Sotheby’s.

Then, on Jan. 31, Sotheby’s notified Mr. Sutherland that there had been a problem with the authentication. Three hours later, Mr. Sutherland e-mailed the undercover officer, prosecutors said in court papers. Mr. Sutherland went on to tell the undercover officer that he had another spin painting and three of Mr. Hirst’s “dot” paintings. He provided provenance papers and agreed to sell the lot for $185,000.

“Everything’s good, everything’s good,” Mr. Sutherland wrote in an e-mail when the undercover officer asked of assurances that the works were real.

On Friday, Mr. Sutherland met with the officer at the Gramercy Park Hotel, where he was later arrested. Prosecutors said Science Ltd. had confirmed that both the spins were frauds. Among other problems, the firm found that the signatures did not match Mr. Hirst’s.

At his arraignment in State Supreme Court in Manhattan on Friday, Mr. Sutherland was charged with second-degree grand larceny. He is being held for $100,000 bond.

The office of Cyrus R. Vance Jr., the Manhattan district attorney, has focused resources on investigating art fraud, and Mr. Sutherland’s arrest was the most recent in a series.

Source: The NY Times