Overview

• Policía de la Generalitat recovered 41 counterfeit paintings attributed to masters such as Andy Warhol, Joaquín Sorolla and Salvador Dalí with a combined auction reserve exceeding €1.2 million.
• Fourteen fake Warhol pieces made up nearly €893,000 of the total value, including a forged Mao Zedong portrait set at a €500,000 starting price.
• Investigators uncovered forged signatures and bogus certificates of authenticity on all pieces that were consigned to a Valencian auction house.
• Specialists from the Gala-Salvador Dalí, Antonio Saura and Zuloaga foundations along with museum experts authenticated the works as fakes.
• The owner has been named as an investigado in a probe for fraud and intellectual property crimes but remains free and has not been detained.