FBI seizes potentially counterfeit Basquiat paintings from Orlando Museum of Art

FBI investigators took more than two dozen paintings from the Orlando Museum of Art on Friday.

The works, advertised as being by Jean-Michel Basquiat, are being investigated for their legitimacy.

The paintings in question were found in 2012 in a storage unit.

If they are real, the paintings are worth an estimated $100 million.

From Newser:

The museum insists they’re legit. The FBI isn’t so sure. The agency’s Art Crime Team is investigating the authenticity of 25 paintings purported to be by the late Jean-Michel Basquiat now on display at the Orlando Museum of Art, reports the New York Times. At stake is not just the credibility of the museum and its director, Aaron De Groft—the paintings are worth an estimated $100 million in total for their three owners. As the investigation unfolds, the “Heroes & Monsters: Jean-Michel Basquiat” exhibit is preparing to hit the road and travel to Italy for public exhibitions at the end of next month. The paintings have a made-for-the-movies back story: The museum and the owners say Basquiat painted them in the early 1980s on scavenged cardboard, then sold them on the cheap to a TV screenwriter who put them in a Los Angeles storage unit.

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