A South Florida art dealer will spend nearly four years in federal prison for a scheme to sell counterfeit works falsely attributed to Andy Warhol.
Leslie Howard Roberts, 63, was sentenced this month in Miami federal court to three years and 10 months behind bars after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
He was also ordered to repay nearly $2.6 million in proceeds from the scheme.
Roberts, who owned Miami Fine Art Gallery in Coconut Grove, was arrested in April 2025. Court records show that he misrepresented the works as authentic pieces created by the renowned artist.
Prosecutors said Roberts falsely told buyers that he had obtained the artwork directly from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and supplied invoices that were fabricated or fraudulent.
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“He exploited the trust that collectors place in art dealers and the authenticity of the works they purchase,” Jason Reding Quiñones, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, said in a statement.
Investigators said Carlos Rodriguez Melendez assisted the conspiracy by posing as an employee of a New York-based auction company and falsely authenticating the artwork to hide the fact that it was forged.
Rodriguez Melendez pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud last year and received a sentence of probation.
The case follows another South Florida prosecution involving counterfeit Warhol works. In 2023, a different art dealer received a federal prison sentence of two years and three months.
Daniel Elie Bouaziz, who owned two galleries in Palm Beach County, pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering. Prosecutors agreed to dismiss 16 additional charges involving fraud and embezzlement.
Warhol was an American visual artist and filmmaker best known for his association with the pop art movement of the 1960s.