FL Art Dealer Pleads Guilty To Selling Fake Warhol Paintings: DOJ

PALM BEACH COUNTY, FL — A Palm Beach art dealer, Daniel Elie Bouaziz, pled guilty Tuesday to laundering money through an art fraud scheme, according to a Department of Justice news release.

Bouaziz is the owner of art galleries in South Florida, including Danieli Fine Art and Galerie Danieli in Palm Beach County.

According to his guilty plea, Bouaziz knowingly engaged in and attempted to engage in a transaction through a financial institution affecting interstate commerce of over $10,000 in money derived from the unlawful sale of counterfeit art in violation of the wire fraud statute, the DOJ said.

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On Oct. 25, 2021, Bouaziz sold counterfeit art he claimed was created by Any Warhol to a customer at his Palm Beach art galleries, the agency said.

He told the customers that the works that he was selling — for between $75,000 and $240,000 — were authentic, original Warhol pieces and that some had been signed by the artist. The customer gave Bouaziz a $200,000 downpayment for the fake works.

His sentencing hearing will take place May 30 before U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon in Fort Pierce.