Art forgery trial ends with prison sentences

A court in Helsinki on Wednesday gave prison sentences to people involved in a high-profile art forgery trial.

The owner of Galerie Vision was given a five-year sentence and her spouse four years. A man who had assisted got three years.

Galerie Vision in Helsinki had been the center of operations for extensive sales of forged art for five years. The most expensive forged work was sold as a painting by the French artist Fernard Leger (1881-1955) at 2.2 million euros.

Prosecutor Pertti Kononen told national broadcaster Yle that the verdict sent the right message "to the people to be more careful in purchasing art".

The court also sentenced some 13 million euros compensation. The court did not order the convicted to be detained at this stage. It is possible the cases will go to the appeals court level.

Some of the paintings sold as works of Leger are still missing. The police would have preferred that all the forged works be confiscated as criminality tools, but that did not happen. Police consider it possible that they would be recycled in further transactions.

Leading Finnish art dealerships, Bukowski and Hagelstam, have assured measures have been taken to avoid forgeries in the future. Former employees of both houses were among the accused, but the charges were dropped. Galrie Vision itself was declared bankrupt in mid-October this year.