Art dealer charged after world’s top museums and auction houses cheated out of millions

An art dealer accused of being behind the forgeries that fooled London’s National Gallery and tricked Sotheby’s into parting with millions has been charged with the art world’s “crime of the century”.

Giuliano Ruffini, 77, is indicted over concerns about “newly discovered” Old Master works.

The dealer and collector could face trial after being accused of organized fraud, money laundering and counterfeiting in Paris.

Ruffini is accused of defrauding private art collectors, museums and auction houses, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Louvre in Paris.

Pictured: Portrait of a Man by Dutch artist Frans Hals

In the photo: painting by El Greco

It has taken eight years of investigation costing tens of millions of pounds to bring the alleged counterfeiting ring under control.

It had been claimed to involve Ruffini’s friend Pasquale Frongia, nicknamed Lino, an Italian painter known as the ‘Moriarty of fakers’, who is believed to be the artist responsible for the fakes. He has not been tried for forgery.

Among the forged works of art Ruffini is believed to be responsible for is a painting of Saint Jerome purportedly by the 16th-century Italian artist Parmigianino. It sold at Sotheby’s for around £700,000 before going on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

After experts discovered a modern pigment in the painting, it was announced to be a fake and Sotheby’s had to refund the price to the buyer.

The London auction house sold Portrait of a Man by Dutch artist Frans Hals, believing it to be a genuine painting.

In the photo: Pasquale Frongia

When it went on display at a Paris auction house in 2008, the Louvre launched a £4.4 million fundraising campaign with the aim of adding it to its collection.

However, the museum did not get hold of the artwork. London art dealer Mark Weiss bought the painting from Mr Ruffini for around £2.6 million and later sold it in a private sale through Sotheby’s for £8.9 million.

The auction house again had to refund the buyer the full price of the painting, while Ruffini argued that the pieces had been verified by experts.

Veiled Venus, linked to German Renaissance artist Lucas Cranach the Elder, was sold to the Prince of Liechtenstein for £6.1m in 2013. It was found to be a fake two years later.

Ruffini and Frongia claim they are innocent. The dealer claims that he was lucky to find the lost works of Van Dyck, Correggio, Pieter Brueghel, Van Bassen and others.

In 2019, Frongia was arrested in connection with a fake El Greco painting titled Saint Francis, which was taken in 2016.

Italy rejected an extradition request from France for lack of evidence. He was released on bail and the case was dismissed.

Ruffini’s ability to constantly find lost masterpieces had raised suspicions from the police.

In 2014, after French authorities received an anonymous letter linking it to forgeries, police launched a formal investigation. In 2019, a French judge issued an international arrest warrant for Ruffini, who was residing in Italy at the time. However, he managed to avoid extradition as he was also defending tax charges in Italy.

Ruffini was cleared of the tax charges earlier this year. In November, Ruffini turned himself in. “He is determined to prove his innocence in a court in France,” Federico de Belvis, his lawyer, said at the Italian police station where he turned himself in.

There were reports that Ruffini had left his home in Vetto Reggio Emilia in northern Italy, but his lawyer said he was unaware French authorities were looking for him.

“Nobody knocked on his door,” he said. He came because she read about the order in the newspapers.

Ruffini is under house arrest and electronic surveillance in France.