Matthew Taylor, Alleged Art Forger, Pleads Not Guilty

LOS ANGELES — A Florida man has pleaded not guilty to defrauding a Los Angeles art collector out of more than $2 million by selling him forgeries of the work of Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh and Jackson Pollock.

Matthew Taylor of Vero Beach entered the plea Monday in a Los Angeles federal court to seven felony counts, including wire fraud and money laundering.

He is scheduled to go to trial April 3.

Prosecutors say the 43-year-old former art dealer is accused of altering paintings from unknown artists to make them appear to be from their famous counterparts, then selling the bogus pieces at sky-high prices.

Authorities say he also placed fake labels on the artwork to claim they were once part of prestigious collections at museums like the Guggenheim in New York.

Comments

[Gronkie]

11:28 AM on 03/15/2012

So a collector bought paintings by Van Gogh, Monet and Pollack and only paid $2 million for them? You couldn't buy a single work from any of those artists for a price anywhere near that low from any legitimate source. Either he's a very gullible and inexperienced art collector, or he thought he was getting some stolen art at a ridiculously low price.

[Lindsgrace33]

10:09 AM on 03/13/2012

People should be able to see a real Van Gogh piece immediately. This guy must be a very talented artist if he could make it look like that.