7. Ely Sakhai
Original Vase de Fleurs
Ely Sakhai ran an art forgery sweatshop in the attic of his gallery, where Chinese immigrants slaved over copies of paintings by Impressionists and Post-Impressionists. Sakhai covered his tracks well, never buying well-known works and selling the originals to Western buyers and fakes to Asian buyers who were unlikely to have the paintings assessed.
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Sakhai
He was found out when, in 2000, the two big auction houses, Christie’s and Sotheby’s, both offered the same painting for sale – Paul Gauguin’s Vase de Fleurs. The Christie’s painting was soon found to be a fake and the FBI followed the trail right to Sakhai’s door.
