Florida art dealer who sold fake Andy Warhol works is jailed for nearly four years and must repay $2.6m

Leslie Howard Roberts, owner of Miami Fine Art Gallery in Coconut Grove, told buyers the works originated directly from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, backing that claim with forged invoices and authentication paperwork, prosecutors said. After his April 2025 arrest, Roberts entered a guilty plea to wire fraud conspiracy, and a Miami federal court this month handed him a sentence of three years and 10 months.

Accomplice Carlos Rodriguez Melendez posed as an auction house employee to authenticate the forgeries.