Father and daughter plead guilty in $2m counterfeit art scheme

Erwin Bankowski and his daughter Karolina Bankowska of Lawrence, New Jersey, pleaded guilty on April 28 in federal court in Brooklyn to a five-year scheme that sold more than 200 counterfeit artworks and defrauded buyers of at least $2 million. Prosecutors said the pair consigned fakes between 2020 and 2025 to reputable US galleries and auction houses, marketing them as works by artists including Andy Warhol, Pablo Picasso, Banksy, Raimond Staprans, and Native American artists Fritz Scholder and Richard Mayhew, with prices ranging from $2,000 to $160,000. The defendants allegedly used fabricated provenances and, in some cases, forged gallery stamps and certificates of authenticity on aged paper. The case includes a rarely used charge under the Indian Arts and Crafts Act, and prosecutors are seeking at least $1.9 million in restitution; recommended prison terms are 33 to 41 months, respectively.

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