Florida Art Dealer Sentenced to Nearly 4 Years for Selling Fake Andy Warhol Artworks

A South Florida art dealer has been sentenced to three years and 10 months in federal prison for his role in a scheme to sell counterfeit Andy Warhol artworks. Leslie Howard Roberts, 63, was also ordered to pay back nearly $2.6 million in illicit earnings.

Roberts, the owner of Miami Fine Art Gallery in Coconut Grove, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He was arrested in April 2025 for falsely representing artworks as original pieces by the renowned pop artist. Prosecutors stated that Roberts claimed to have acquired the art directly from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and provided fabricated invoices to support these claims.

"He exploited the trust that collectors place in art dealers and the authenticity of the works they purchase," said US Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Jason Reding Quiñones in a statement.

Investigators revealed that Carlos Rodriguez Melendez, an associate who posed as an employee of a New York-based auction company, falsely authenticated the forged artwork to conceal its fraudulent nature. Rodriguez Melendez pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud last year and received a sentence of probation.

This case follows a similar sentencing in 2023, where another South Florida art dealer, Daniel Elie Bouaziz, received a sentence of two years and three months for selling fake Warhols. Bouaziz, who owned galleries in Palm Beach County, had pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering, with prosecutors agreeing to drop other related charges.

Andy Warhol was a prominent American visual artist and filmmaker, best known for his significant contributions to the pop art movement of the 1960s.