Category: Fraud and Deception

Warhol Brillo Boxes in Sweden Are Fakes
by Louise Nordstrom
SFGate.com
Friday, November 16, 2007

Stockholm, Sweden (AP) — Six Brillo boxes in the Andy Warhol collection at a Swedish museum are fakes made in 1990, three years after the famed pop artist died, the museum said Friday.

Warhol created the original Brillo boxes, replicas of Brillo soap pad cartons, as part of a 1964 exhibition displaying artwork resembling supermarket products.

The Moderna Museet in Stockholm said it had investigated the authenticity of its six wooden Brillo boxes, donated by its former head, Pontus Hulten, in 1995, after a Swedish newspaper claimed they were all copies.

In a letter to the Andy Warhol Art Authentication Board in New York, museum director Lars Nittve confirmed the claims.

“These boxes are not authorized by the artist and should be removed from the official list of Andy Warhol Brillo boxes,” Nittve wrote in the letter.

The Swedish tabloid Expressen reported in June that Hulten “” the head of the Modern Museum in Stockholm in the 1960s and of the Centre Pompidou in Paris in the 1970s and 1980s “” had Swedish carpenters build 105 copies of the Warhol Brillo box for an exhibition in Russia in 1990.

Expressen claimed that Hulten, who died last year, then sold a number of the copies with certificates falsely stating they were made for a Warhol exhibition in Stockholm in 1968. Continue reading “Warhol Brillo Boxes in Sweden Are Fakes”

Submitted by Mike Ibanez: What about Tania Head (née Alicia Esteve), the Catalan girl who conned New York?

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From Wikipedia:

Tania Head was the president and director of the World Trade Center Survivors’ Network, which she co-founded with Gerry Bogacz, until the last week of September 2007, when her claims became doubted and the organization dismissed her. The Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia reported that Head is from Barcelona and that her real name is Alicia Esteve Head.

Claims as 9/11 victim

Head claimed that she was on the 78th floor of the South Tower (WTC 2) when United Airlines Flight 175 hit the floor where she stood. This would have made her one of only 19 people at or above the point of impact to have survived. She said that a man by the name of Dave, who perished in the North Tower (WTC 1), was her fiance or husband. She also claimed to have been given a dying man’s wedding ring and to have returned it to his widow, and to have been rescued herself by a deceased man known to have rescued others. Continue reading “Tall Tales from the Tall Towers”

Fake Lawyer Defends Accused Drunk Driver
Stamford Conn.
Associated Press
November 2, 2007

An alleged drunken driver will get a new trial after court officials say he was represented by a fake lawyer. Howard Seidler, 62, of Brooklyn, N.Y., was arrested Thursday when he returned to Stamford Superior Court for his client’s sentencing.

“This was a terrible fraud on the court,” State’s Attorney David Cohen said.

Court officials charged Seidler with unauthorized practice of law and criminal impersonation. He may also face charges of first-degree larceny and forgery, Cohen said.

Authorities said Seidler claimed to be a real New York attorney named Harold Weber while representing Ismet Idrizaj of Norwalk on a drunken driving charge. A jury deliberated for just eight minutes before convicting Idrizaj, who spent $18,000 on legal fees. Continue reading “Not the Dream Team”