FINE ART TREASURES: ART SCAM

** Four federal search warrants and seven federal seizure warrants were executed today in the Los Angeles area as part of a joint investigation related to an alleged television and Internet art fraud scheme, announced J. Stephen Tidwell, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI in Los Angeles. Agencies involved in the joint federal investigation in Los Angeles include the United States Attorney’s Office, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) – Criminal Investigation, the Los Angeles Police Department’s (LAPD) Art Theft Detail and the FBI’s Art Crime Team.
The investigation involves the alleged sale of fraudulent artwork on the art auction television show, Fine Art Treasures Gallery, also doing business as Morei, Inc. and Fine Art Network, Inc. The art auction show is televised live nationally, and can also be seen live world wide, via the Internet

http://losangeles.fbi.gov/pressrel/2006/la090706.htm

-taken from a press release by the FBI