A fake work by Keith Haring that Angel Pereda is accused of attempting to sell.  

COURTESY FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION 

Authorities in New York have arrested a 49-year-old Mexican man accused of selling fake artworks he claimed were by Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring.

The alleged crimes occurred in 2020 and 2021, with Pereda approaching auction houses in New York to sell artworks he claimed to be created by Basquiat and Haring, among others.

“As alleged, Angel Pereda attempted to sell forgeries of artworks by Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring, among others, as genuine,” says Manhattan U.S. attorney Audrey Strauss in a statement.

A purported collaboration between Basquiat and Haring that Pereda allegedly offered through an intermediary to an auction house  

Courtesy of the Department of Justice 

Among those works were two paintings done in the style of Haring’s signature motifs, including his barking dogs and three-eyed monster, as well as a vase lined with similar imagery that Pereda allegedly said was also by the artist.

Prosecutors say the alleged fraud scheme took place sometime in the past year, and if Pereda is found guilty he could face up to 20 years in prison.

The fraudulent works were offered to at least two New York auction houses, and the Keith Haring Foundation helped investigators determine that the artworks had not actually been created by Haring, an investigator wrote in the complaint.

 An urn supposedly decorated by Haring that was offered to another auction house. Courtesy of the Department of Justice 

“Mr. Pereda conned art buyers, hoping his victims wouldn’t see the difference between real art and a forgery,” FBI Assistant Director William F. Sweeney Jr. said in a statement. Prosecutors said the F.B.I.’s art crime team had assisted with the investigation, and noted that it is still ongoing.