MIAMI – A South Florida art dealer with a checkered past is back in trouble with the feds. Prosecutors announced his indictment Thursday, one day after FBI agents raided his art gallery in Miami’s Coconut Grove neighborhood.
Leslie Roberts, 62, also known as Les Roberts, is accused of selling fake paintings he claimed were by renowned artist Andy Warhol out of Miami Fine Art Gallery at 3180 Commodore Plaza. Agents took multiple paintings out of the business throughout the day Wednesday.
He’s now charged with wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering in Miami federal court.
Roberts is already facing civil lawsuits, including those alleging the sale of fake Warhol paintings. Outlets like the New York Times and the Coconut Grove Spotlight have covered the cases.
Prosecutors said Carlos Miguel Rodriguez Melendez, 37, of Sunny Isles Beach, is also charged with wire fraud conspiracy.
Court documents remained sealed Thursday, but federal prosecutors said in a news release that Roberts, in selling the fake Warhol pieces, “falsely claimed to victims that he acquired the artwork directly from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and provided fake and fraudulent invoices to the victim.”
“Rodriguez Melendez falsely represented that he was an employee of a New York-based auction company in order to fraudulently authenticate the artwork in (order) to conceal that the artwork was fake,” the news release states.
Authorities said Roberts made fraudulent money laundering transactions as well, transferring $150,000, $40,000 and $50,000 in fraud proceeds from his Miami Fine Art Gallery bank account to a personal bank account
The news release states agents arrested the pair Wednesday; both made an initial appearance in federal court and were released on bond.
It’s far from Roberts’ first time in a federal courthouse.
The Miami-Dade native pleaded guilty to mail fraud for selling fake paintings back in 2015. He was also convicted of defrauding his uncle of millions of dollars in a stock scheme back in the late 1980s. He served time in federal prison in both cases.
In this case, Roberts faces up to 30 years behind bars, while Rodriguez Melendez faces up to 20 years.
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