Dreamed of owning a Van Gogh? One buyer lost €82,500 to a con that has now cost the fraudster four years in prison

Imagine being an investor and believing you were about to buy a genuine Van Gogh for €750,000, only to find that the seller, the paperwork and the painting were all fake. One buyer in Spain went through exactly that, and a court has now confirmed a four-year prison sentence for the man behind it.

How the fake Van Gogh scam began

According to Spanish media outlet Malaga Hoy, the scam began in 2021, when the fraudster met his victim through a mutual friend. He posed as a wealthy go-between with property holdings and political connections.

He told the victim he could buy a Van Gogh from a marchioness who urgently needed cash. In reality, the marchioness did not exist. Spain’s Guardia Civil later found that the fraudster’s companies had no real activity.

Four payments for a painting that was never real

The buyer was asked to pay an 11% advance on the €750,000 price. The money was supposedly for restoring the painting, certifying who painted it and getting it listed in Van Gogh’s catalogue raisonne, the scholarly register of an artist’s authenticated works.

A contract for the deal was signed in June 2021. The victim then paid €40,000 in September 2021, €17,500 in October, and €5,000 and €20,000 in December, adding up to €82,500.

A made-up seller and a doctored report

Police checks soon unravelled the story. The address and identity details in the contract were fake, and the passport number given for the supposed seller actually belonged to the fraudster.

Judges also found that he had altered an expert report saying the painting was not a Van Gogh, so that it would appear genuine. Later, the accused and another person asked a firm called Art Research Department at Van Gogh Experts for an opinion. Its report, dated December 13 2022, again concluded that the work was not an original.

His record really didn’t help matters. He already had a final conviction for forging private documents, plus a four-month sentence still to serve, when the contract was signed.

What Antequera has to do with it

Antequera, in Malaga province, enters the story through the painting itself. The fraudster said it was co-owned by a resident of the town, and it was seized at that person’s home during a separate police investigation run by Antequera’s investigating court, which handles the early stages of criminal cases.

Sentence confirmed, but an appeal is still possible

Madrid’s Superior Court of Justice upheld the four-year term in a ruling issued in October. It covers aggravated fraud and falsification of a private document. The court rejected the defence appeal against the earlier verdict from Madrid’s provincial court, and the convicted man must repay the €82,500.

The case may still be appealed to Spain’s Supreme Court.

Anyone buying art, property or investments through a go-between in Spain should check ownership, identity and expert opinions independently, and treat any request for an upfront fee with caution.