“MASTERPIECES” FAKED

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29071, 7 December 1959, Page 10

“MASTERPIECES” FAKED

Art Dealers Arrested

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) NEW YORK, December 4.

Police broke up what they described as one of the biggest fake masterpiece rackets in the nation’s history today by arresting two Russian-born art dealers and seizing 400 paintings with signatures ranging from Rembrandt of Picasso. The arrested men, Boris Lass, aged 64, and his brother, Mark, aged 61, claimed the collection was gathered by their mother before the Russian revolution, and had a current value of 25.000,000 dollars.

Experts from the Metropolitan and Modern Art Museums called in by the District Attorney (Mr Frank Hogan) said they were fakes, apparently the work of students imitating old and modern masters.

The brothers, proprietors of a gallery in the heart of New' York’s Madison Avenue Gallery district, were charged in a 25count indictment with attempted grand larceny, counterfeiting labels, and false and misleading advertising. Authorities said that they did not know how many “masterpieces” the men had been able to sell. The brothers were held for a hearing on December 16. At their arraignment, Assistant District Attorney Joseph Stone said the Lasses had been “peddling studio sweepings which they masqueraded as the work of masters” for a number of years and were planning to open another gallery in Connecticut when they were apprehended.