Father Daughter Counterfeiting Duo Face Twenty Years in Prison
4April 30, 2026
On Tuesday, a father-daughter duo from New Jersey pleaded guilty to creating and selling over 200 works of counterfeit art falsely attributed to iconic artists including AndyWarhol, Picasso, Fritz Scholder and Banksy; the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of New Yorksaid in a statement.
Erwin Bankowski, 50, and Karolina Bankowska, 26, admitted that they’d engaged in wire fraud conspiracy, as well as the misrepresentation of Native American-produced goods and products. Bankowski and Bankowska both face up to 20 years in prison for defrauding buyers out of at least $2 million.
“For years, these defendants painted themselves as purveyors of fine art while selling lies on canvas to unsuspecting collectors,” United States Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. claimed. “Today’s convictions strip away the varnish and reveal the fraud underneath.”
To sell their fraudulent artworks, the two generated false provenances and collection histories for the pieces, conning potential buyers with fabricated backgrounds.
In order to attribute the origins of their false paintings to reputable galleries, the father and daughter “created and affixed forged stamps from art galleries to some of the Counterfeit Works, which they created by purchasing antique books to imprint custom-made stamps of forged certificates of authenticity onto aged paper, and then affixed to the Counterfeit Works,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. The pair attempted to auction the counterfeit works for prices that reached as high as $160,000.
“This artwork scheme doesn’t just cheat buyers. It steals from Native American artists and undermines the integrity of an entire cultural marketplace,“ U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Assistant Director Doug Ault said. “Selling fake Native American art is a serious crime, and our Special Agents investigate these cases to hold offenders accountable and protect authentic Indian artists, their work, and their livelihoods.”