Forger Sentenced for Swindling Collectors with Woodcuts Attributed to German Renaissance Masters

A man has been sentenced to four years in prison for selling 15th century European woodcuts falsely attributed to Hans Holbein and Albrecht Dürer, among other famous artists, Department of Justice officials announced Tuesday.

According to a federal indictment filed in the Middle District of Pennsylvania, within the last decade Earl Marshawn Washington, 61, swindled French and American collectors out of hundreds of thousands of dollars with such replicas.

Washington, with the help of his then-wife Zsanett Nagy, created works of art called xylography, wherein designs are carved onto wood blocks that are subsequently dipped in ink and printed directly onto another material. Xylography was popular in 14th century, in particular in Renaissance Germany, and were associated with artists including Holbein and Dürer.

Washington, is listed as a resident of Honolulu, Key West, Las Vegas “and other places,” per U.S. prosecutors, sold the forgeries under the alias “River Seine” on eBay to local and French collectors, USA Today first reported.

Washington was sentenced for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud. He was ordered to pay $203,240.90 in restitution fees and serve a three-year term of supervised release after his release from prison. The investigation was led by the FBI’s Art Crimes Unit, which also combats forgeries, per the agency’s website.

Nagy received two years in prison in January and has been ordered to pay $107,159.25 in restitution frees, according to the U.S. attorney’s office. A Hungarian national, Nagy risks deportation.