Wednesday, November 26, 2003
QUEENS FOUNDRY OWNER SENTENCED FOR ART FRAUD; MUST PAY $100,000 RESTITUTION
Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown today announced that a Queens foundry owner has been sentenced to probation and ordered to pay $100,000 in restitution for defrauding two wealthy art collectors by selling them copies of original metal sculptures by three sculptors which he claimed were genuine, authorized originals but which actually were unauthorized copies that were worthless.
District Attorney Brown said, “The defendant admitted that he casted copies of original metal sculptures without authorization, sold them for his own personal gain, defrauded the victims and cheated the artists who created the works. Today’s disposition punishes the defendant with the certainty of a felony conviction and assures that the victims will get back every penny that the defendant wrongfully took from them.”
District Attorney Brown identified the defendant as Brian Ramnarine, 49, of 63-33 98th Place in Rego Park, owner and operator of the Empire Bronze Art Foundry and Ramnarine Arts Gallery at 25-20 43rd Avenue in Long Island City.
The District Attorney said that the defendant and his corporations, Empire Bronze Art Foundry and Ramnarine Arts Gallery, pled guilty on February 27, 2003 to Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree before Queens Supreme Court Justice James P. Griffin who imposed today’s sentence.
District Attorney Brown said that the art foundry owner was ordered to serve five years probation and to pay restitution of $100,000 –- which includes payments of $55,000 to one victim and $45,000 to the other victim. The defendant paid back $20,000 today and has been ordered to make full restitution of the balance over the next four years.
According to the District Attorney, between March 1, 1998 and August 31, 1999 the defendant, a skilled craftsman with a reputation for excellence in the casting of bronze sculptures, criminally simulated works of art by three gifted sculptors with an intent to make them appear to have a source or authorship which they did not in fact possess. He made additional copies beyond the number ordered by the sculptors who commissioned the castings of their works of art and sold the unauthorized ‘extras’ to two private collectors misrepresenting them as authentic artworks and retained the proceeds for himself.
Senior Investigative Assistant District Attorney Bernadette K. Ford of the District Attorney's Economic Crimes Bureau prosecuted the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Brian J. Mich, Bureau Chief, and the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Investigations Peter A. Crusco and Assistant District Attorney Linda M. Cantoni, Counsel to the Investigations Division.