A little over a year ago, New York City art dealer Robert Rogal received a visit from a young woman eager to sell a family heirloom. Introducing herself as Karolina Bankowska, she carried a framed painting signed by Andrew Wyeth, resembling the watercolor landscapes the celebrated artist completed early in his career. Intrigued, Rogal accepted the piece on consignment, estimating it might fetch $20,000 to $30,000 at auction.
“The provenance was a little fuzzy,” he said. “But she seemed credible. It wasn’t an obvious counterfeit.”
Rogal now believes the painting was a fake — one of at least 200 carefully designed imitations that federal prosecutors say Bankowska, 26, and her father Erwin Bankowski, 50, tried to pass off to unwitting buyers. On Tuesday, the duo pleaded guilty to defrauding victims — including some of New York City’s most prominent fine art auction houses — of at least $2 million.
The counterfeits, forged in Poland by an unnamed co-conspirator, were often reproductions of lesser-known works by prominent artists like Banksy and Andy Warhol, prosecutors said. Their most profitable fake, purportedly by artist Richard Mayhew, was sold by auction house DuMouchelles last October for $160,000. A representative for DuMouchelles said they cooperated with federal authorities but were not authorized to discuss the sale further. Several other targeted auction houses, including Bonhams, Phillips, Freeman’s and Antique Arena, either declined or did not respond to inquiries.
The father and daughter — Polish citizens living in New Jersey — face charges of wire fraud conspiracy and misrepresenting Native American–produced goods, stemming from their duplication of Luiseño artist Fritz Scholder. They face more than three years in prison under federal guidelines, in addition to $1.9 million in restitution and possible deportation to Poland.
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.”
As news of the fakes reverberated around the art world, experts described the scheme as classic — one far more prevalent than some in the industry would like to admit. “The only unusual thing about this case is that the forgers got caught,” said Erin Thompson, a professor of art crime at the City University of New York. “People think of the art world as a genteel place full of cultured people who just want to share the wonder of beautiful art. You should assume there are a lot more fakes out there.”
Prosecutors said the father and daughter began commissioning a Polish artist in 2020 to create the fake artworks. Using antique paper, they also forged stamps to attach to the paintings, adopting names of since-shuttered galleries where a given artist might have plausibly shown their work. Sales soon drew scrutiny. In March 2023, representatives for artist Raimonds Staprans caught wind of a forged painting, “Triple Boats,” for sale by an auction house. A few days after the reps contacted the auction house, the painting sold for $60,000, prosecutors said.
Thompson noticed other irregularities. The gallery stamp on the back of the faked Wyeth, for example, listed its year as 1976 but included a zoning address number phased out in 1962. Coincidentally, the fake stamp bore the name and address for M. Knoedler & Co., one of New York’s oldest commercial galleries, which closed in 2011 amid allegations of profiting from forgeries of Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and others.
Ultimately, Rogal said he never listed the Wyeth, in part because the stamp on the back was “too clean.” When he called Bankowska to pick it up, she never responded. On Tuesday, in a Queens warehouse brimming with consigned art pieces, Rogal reexamined the painting under the light. “You try to do a service and provide it correctly,” he said. “Can we be fooled? Absolutely.”
