Glafira Rosales, Conspirator at the Center of the Knoedler Scandal, Takes Plea Bargain

On Tuesday, September 16, 2013, Glafira Rosales plead guilty to charges of conspiracy, wire fraud and money laundering. Rosales admitted that she sold more than 60 forged paintings to galleries, including fake works by Willem de Kooning, Robert Motherwell, Barnett Newman, Sam Francis and Franz Kline. One of those galleries was the Knoedler Gallery, which along Julian Weissman Fine Art in Manhattan sold the works for $80 million.

The indictment for U.S. v. Rosales, 13-cr-00518, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York states:
"From in or about the early 1990's through in or about 2009, GLAFIRA ROSALES, a/k/a "Glafira Gonzalez," a/k/a "Glafira Rosales Rojas," the defendant, and CC-1, together with other known and unknown, conspired to sell dozens of fake works of art.  The fake works or art were created by the Painter in Queens, New York, at the specific request of CC-1.  ROSALES and CC-1 also conspired to launder the proceeds of the scheme by transferring the proceeds through foreign bank accounts.  ROSALES, who was a U.S. taxpayer, also hid the income generated by her participation in the conspiracy by filing false tax returns and failing to report the existence of the foreign bank account that she controlled, as required by law." (CC-1 is an unnamed co-conspirator, suspected to be her boyfriend).