Glafira Rosales, a fradulent art dealer, pleaded guilty on Monday to masterminding a $80 million scheme in which she pawned off 63 fake works to two Manhattan art salons, including the newly-defunct Knoedler Gallery. The pieces had actually been created by a struggling Queens artist over a 15-year period, and not by well-known 20th Century Expressionists, as she claimed, The New York Post reported.
Rosales appeared at Manhattan Federal Court, accepting responsibility for orchestrating a money laundering, wire fraud and tax scheme, one month after pleading not guilty to the nine-count indictment, news reports said.
The Long Island resident accumulated $33.2 from the sales, and "then the galleries flipped the artwork for more than $80 million to unsuspecting buyers," federal agents said.
"During that period, I agreed with others to sell works of art claimed to be created by various expressionist artists, including Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollack, and Robert Motherwell, and to make false representation as to the authenticity and provenance of those works," Rosales told Judge Katherine Failla on Monday.
"These works were actually fakes created by an individual residing in Queens."
While Rosales faces a maximum of 99 years in jail, her guilty plea deal all but guarentees her a much reduced sentence, news reports said. She has already agreed to to relinquish #33.2 million in cash and properties, as well as pay $81 million in restitution to her victims, New York Post also reported.
A native of Mexico, Rosales also faces potential deportation.
