Selling fake art prints has landed a New York man in federal prison for the next two years.
Leon Amiel Jr., a man who has a history of art fraud, was sentenced Wednesday to two years in prison for involvement in a ring that sold fake Dali and Picassos from the East Coast to Chicago, The Chicago Tribune reports .
Amiel asked U.S. District Judge Joan Gottschall for mercy, telling her "my children are my life." Gottschall took this into account and cut his sentence down from the six years he faced under federal sentencing guidelines.
The judge said that he was a man committed to his family and cited mental problems and a family history of emotional and physical abuse. She also cited that he was raised by criminals, referencing his grandfather, also named Leon Amiel, who had been identified as "a notorious art forger" in court documents.
Michael Zabrin, one of the men with whom Amiel worked on the art scheme, was recently sentenced to nine years in prison for a different scam. This is the second time Zabrin faces prison for art fraud.
In April, an owner and operator of Kass/Meridian Gallery was indicted on Federal charges for allegedly selling hundreds of counterfeit and unauthorized prints.
