(CNN)A California man pleaded guilty on Monday to selling more than $1.1 million of forged artwork between 2018 and 2020.
Jason Harrington, 38, admitted that he intentionally sold the forged artwork purportedly created two well-known artists, Richard Hambleton and Barkley Hendricks, according to the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California.
"Mr. Harrington created multiple fake paintings, devised elaborate cover stories to authenticate them, targeted unsuspecting buyers, and sold over a million dollars of forged artwork," said FBI Special Agent Suzanne Turner. "Fraudulent and forged artwork degrades the integrity and trust within the art community and today's guilty plea should send a clear message -- the FBI will aggressively pursue those who use fraud schemes to make a living, regardless of the type of instrument used to commit the fraud."
Jeremy Warren, Harrington's attorney, told CNN in an emailed statement that his client regrets his actions.
"Mr. Harrington was down on his luck when he started selling the forged artwork. He is in a better place now and very much regrets his actions," Warren said.
In his plea agreement, Harrington admitted selling forged art to at least 15 galleries and individuals between 2018 and 2020, prosecutors said. Harrington agreed to pay at least $1.1 million restitution as part of his plea deal, prosecutors said.
The forged art included paintings that featured a recurring motif in Hambleton's artwork, a black-silhouetted figure known as the "Shadowman," according to the US attorney's office.
Hambleton was a street artist who rose to prominence in the 1980s in New York City. Some of Hambleton's "Shadowman" works have sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars,
Harrington would lie to prospective buyers and provide them with a fake letter of authenticity, according to his plea agreement. He also altered images, using publicly available photographs of Hambleton, to make it appear that the individual who purportedly obtained the art knew Hambleton, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said Harrington attempted to sell at least one painting by Hendricks, a noted Black portraitist. Harrington falsely told the owner of an art gallery that he had inherited the painting from his uncle but Hendricks' widow viewed the painting and determined it was a forgery, so the gallery refused to buy it, prosecutors said.
Harrington is scheduled to be sentenced on October 22. He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
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California man pleads guilty to selling more than $1 million of forged artwork - CNN
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