German police seize fake Picassos in multimillion-euro counterfeiting operation

Bavarian police have seized millions of euros worth of fake art allegedly showing works by Picasso, Rembrandt and Kahlo in an operation spanning Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

Authorities in Bavaria said the prime suspect is a 77-year-old German man who, along with 10 alleged accomplices, faces charges of conspiracy and fraud.

Investigators first became suspicious when the seventy-year-old Tartor tried to sell two supposedly original Picasso paintings on the art market.

He then wanted to sell De Staalmeesters, a famous oil painting by the Dutch Old Master Rembrandt, for 120 million Swiss francs (£113 million) – even though the original hung in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

The Bavarian State Criminal Police Office (BLKA) said the forged De Staalmeesters – which are sometimes referred to as the “Masters of the Guild of Garment Makers” – were owned by an 84-year-old Swiss woman.

She is now being investigated by the Amberg Public Prosecutor’s Office, BLKA and the Swiss authorities after the fake was confiscated in Switzerland.

At the time, after being examined by an art expert, police said: “This was, as suspected, a copy and not a lost masterpiece by Rembrandt van Rijn.”

The picture was seized during a coordinated series of early raids in Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein on Wednesday, October 15.

A large number of suspected art forgeries were found and seized during the raids, BLKA said, along with “documents, records, mobile phones, storage media and cloud data”.

Bavarian police said the prime suspect tried to sell a further 19 fake works, allegedly by world-renowned artists, for between €400,000 (£349,000) and €14m (£12.2m).

These include copies of works by the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, as well as the Flemish old master Peter Paul Rubens, the Italian sculptor Amedeo Modigliani and the Spanish Joan Miró.

He was assisted by a 74-year-old German who “prepared expert reports specifically to confirm the authenticity of the artworks.”

BLKA said he and the main suspect were arrested on the day of the rally before being released on parole.

Police said an investigation is underway.

Among other things, all confiscated paintings will be examined in detail by experts and appraisers in the coming weeks,” the police said.