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On Wednesday, federal authorities secured a guilty plea from a father and daughter charged with selling counterfeit art they falsely claimed was created by renowned contemporary artists.
Erwin Bankowski, 50, and his daughter, Karolina Bankowska, 26, could face up to 20 years in prison along with restitution payments amounting to $1.9 million. According to prosecutors, the duo was peddling “lies on canvas,” even fabricating bogus ownership histories for the fake artworks they sold.
“This father-daughter team not only sold fake art but also eroded trust, took advantage of unsuspecting buyers, and sought to enrich themselves through deception,” stated James Barnacle, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI. “This case demonstrates that those who manipulate the art market for personal profit will face justice.”
The Department of Justice revealed that between 2020 and 2025, the Bankowskis conspired to auction more than 200 counterfeit pieces, falsely attributed to celebrated artists.
A suspected forgery of an Andrew Wyeth painting is displayed at RoGallery in New York on Tuesday, April 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Jake Offenhartz)
Those artists included Andy Warhol, Pablo Picasso, Banksy, Raimonds Staprans, Richard Mayhew and Native American artist Fritz Scholder.
“To make some of the Counterfeit Works appear to be legitimate, the defendants generated false histories of prior custody and ownership, also known as provenance. To do so, they conducted research to represent falsely that some of the Counterfeit Works had been in private collections of individuals associated with the artists, had been owned by since-closed art galleries, or had been in the private collections of corporations that were no longer in operation,” the DOJ wrote.
“The defendants chose galleries and corporations that were no longer operating to make it difficult for galleries and potential buyers to verify the purported provenance of the Counterfeit Works,” the statement added.
The DOJ says the defendants consigned the fake pieces to art galleries and auction houses throughout the U.S., which then attempted to sell them to buyers for prices of up to $160,000. Over the course of their scheme, the defendants defrauded victims out of at least $2 million.
The father and daughter — Polish citizens living in New Jersey — pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy and misrepresenting Native American–produced goods, the latter charge stemming from their duplication of the Luiseño artist, Fritz Scholder.
In court on Tuesday, Bankowska told a judge that her “conduct was wrong and I am guilty.” Her attorney, Todd Spodek, said his client had placed more than $1 million in an escrow account.
Through a Polish interpreter, Erwin Bankowski also apologized. His attorney, Jeffrey Chabrowe, added that his client had “regrettably made a terrible decision in an effort to support his family.”