ITALY: COUNTERFEITED WORKS OF ART SEIZED
<p></p>\n<p><b>--SUPERS</b>--</p>\n<p>Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Cultural Heritage</p>\n<p></p>\n<p><b>--VIDEO SHOWS</b>--</p>\n<p></p>\n<p><b>--LEAD IN</b>--</p>\n<p></p>\n<p><b>--VO SCRIPT</b>--</p>\n<p>Direct translation of press release relating to a conference given by Pisa prosecutor Teresa Angela Camelio on Nov. 11 in Pisa</p>\n<p>Note: TPC refers to the Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Cultural Heritage, better known as the Carabinieri TPC</p>\n<p>Note: Italy has a three-tier judicial system under which all criminal investigations must go through the 1st degree, an automatic right of appeal, and then signed off by the high court (Cassazione) so when she refers to the "final sentence" she is referring to the high court's final word on this matter.</p>\n<p>the original document sent out to accredited journalists this morning is attached signed by Camelio </p>\n<p></p>\n<p>First of all, I would like to thank Major General Francesco Gargaro, Commander of the Carabinieri Cultural Heritage Protection Command, and Colonel Polio, Commander of the Carabinieri Cultural Heritage Protection Group of Rome, as well as my colleague Aldo lngangi, National Member ad interim at the Italian desk of Eurojust and Chief Marshal Giuseppe Malerba, SNY National Expert Seconded to Eurojust for coming, respectively from Rome and The Hague, to participate in this press conference.</p>\n<p>A further thank you to the President of the Teatro Verdi of Pisa, Diego Fiorini, for the generous help offered in setting up this room specifically for today's press conference.</p>\n<p>My gratitude also goes to the Director of the State Archives of Pisa, Dr. Jaleh Barahbadi, who with equal generosity has made herself available to host the works that are the object of this investigation, taking care of the preparation of the exhibition that will open immediately afterwards, without interruption, at Palazzo Toscanelli, on the Lungarno Mediceo.</p>\n<p>Today we are here to present the results of the transnational investigation for counterfeiting of works of art launched by the Public Prosecutor's Office at the Court of Pisa and delegated to the Carabinieri Unit for the Protection of Cultural Heritage in Rome and coordinated at European level by the Italian desk of the Eurojust Agency.</p>\n<p>The operation, called "Cariatide" (the name taken from the painting attributed to Modigliani) focuses on 38 individuals investigated for the crimes of complicity in receiving stolen goods, forgery and marketing of art goods and has led to the seizure of over 2,100 works of contemporary art which, if placed on the market, would have caused economic damage exceeding 200 million euros.</p>\n<p>It should be noted that the preliminary investigations are still ongoing and that the suspects are presumed innocent until the final judicial sentence. This press conference is justified by the transnational dimension of the investigation and its economic implications.</p>\n<p>The recovered fake works refer to the names of internationally renowned artists, including: Amedeo Modigliani, Andy Warhol, Banksy, Pablo Picasso, Joan Mirò, Arman, Francis Bacon, Wassily Kandisky, Gustav Klimt, Henry Moore, Haussmann, Tapies, Jean-Paul Riopelle, Twombly, Wilfredo Lam, Mare Chagall, Monet, De Chirico, Giacometti, Aubertin, Mituraj, Afro, Boccioni, Paul Klee, Van Gogh, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Vasarely, Pollock, Haring, Hopper, Death Nyc, Renato Guttuso and Salvador Dalì.</p>\n<p>The recovery is the result of numerous seizures carried out in Italy, Spain and Belgium.</p>\n<p>In particular, the investigative operation began in March 2023 with the seizure (delegated by the prosecutor) by the Carabinieri of the TPC Nucleus of Rome from a Pisan entrepreneur, of a decree that led to the recovery of approximately 200 contemporary works of art that were found to be counterfeit, including a painting depicting "Cariatide" by the artist Modigliani.</p>\n<p>Following this seizure, the investigators of the TPC Arm started further investigations, including monitoring the e-commerce platforms of the most important auction houses, in order to establish whether other works of the same kind had been offered for sale to the public and to ascertain the names of the subjects who supplied such artistic artefacts.</p>\n<p>In the second phase of the investigations, it was possible to ascertain that there were as many works on the market, put up for sale by various auction houses located in Lombardy, Piedmont, Veneto, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Liguria, Emilia Romagna, Tuscany, Umbria, Lazio, Campania, Puglia, Basilicata and Sicily.</p>\n<p>The same thing happened in Tuscany and Veneto, where three forgers were identified and three painting laboratories used (Lucca, Pistoia and Venice) for the production of the counterfeit works were located.</p>\n<p>The reconstruction of the forgers' supply chain made it possible to ascertain the existence of a dense European network, created between Spain, France and Belgium, composed of individuals dedicated to such processes who, once the fake art object had been produced, proceeded to reach agreements with various Italian auction houses, some of which were compliant with the subsequent publication for sale.</p>\n<p>In particular, three works by artists Vasilij Kandisky, Paul Klee and Piet Mondrian, whose works are usually sold at international auctions for tens of millions of euros, had been auctioned off at a Pisan auction house for the sum of approximately 4,000 euros each.</p>\n<p>The illicit activity of the suspects had focused mainly on the works of artists Andy Warhol and Banksy, currently among the most important exponents of contemporary street art. The subjects involved had organized an exhibition with works by Banksy in Mestre and Cortona, displaying the works in official spaces at prestigious locations and publishing a catalogue.</p>\n<p>Given the evidence gathered on the counterfeiting activity in Europe, the Public Prosecutor's Office of Pisa, with the international coordination of the Italian desk at Eurojust, issued three European Investigation Orders against 6 people in Spain, France and Belgium.</p>\n<p>On behalf of the Public Prosecutor in charge of the investigations, the Carabinieri of the Cultural Heritage Protection Unit of Rome carried out the measures abroad with the assistance of the Guardia Civil and the Mossos d'Esquadra in Spain, the Office Centrai de Lutte contre le Trafic de Biens Culturels (OCBC) in France and the Federal Police in Belgium.</p>\n<p>The activities conducted in Europe allowed the identification of three additional counterfeiting laboratories with the subsequent seizure of 1,000 imitation works of contemporary art, with over 450 certificates of authenticity and 50 stamps, all of which were fake. The work carried out has shed light on a transnational system of counterfeiters interconnected with compliant auction houses.</p>\n<p>The operation also, overall, made it possible to remove from the art market works that, if they had not been promptly identified and blocked, could have been subsequently placed on the market with prices close to those of the artists' original works.</p>\n<p>The consultants of the Public Prosecutor's Office of Pisa, in addition to certifying the non-originality of the seized works, estimated that the same, if sold, would have caused economic damage of approximately 200 million euros, an eventuality that would certainly have significantly changed the auction market.</p>\n<p>The activity that I have just illustrated can be considered, according to the experts of the Bansky archive, who provided their consultancy without charge to the Prosecutor's Office, the greatest work of protection of Bansky.</p>\n<p>It should be noted that the preliminary investigations are still ongoing and that the suspects are presumed innocent until the final sentence.</p>\n<p><b>--SOT</b>--</p>\n<p></p>\n<p><b>--TAG</b>--</p>\n<p></p>\n<p><b>--REPORTER PKG-AS FOLLOWS</b>--</p>\n<p></p>\n<p><b>-----END-----CNN.SCRIPT-----</b></p>\n<p></p>\n<p><b>--KEYWORD TAGS--</b></p>\n<p></p>\n<p><b>--MUSIC INFO---</b></p>\n<p></p>