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Father and Daughter Who Sold Fake Warhols Plead Guilty in Forgery Scheme
Erwin Bankowski and Karolina Bankowska, of New Jersey, commissioned a Polish artist to create counterfeit artworks that sold for a total of over $2 million.
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A father and daughter commissioned counterfeit works and forged the paintings’ ownership history to make them seem authentic.
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U.S. Department of Justice
By
Santul Nerkar
April 28, 2026,
6:36 p.m. ET
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The provocative painting seemed like an authentic work by Andy Warhol, depicting a nude man and woman gazing at each other with colorful shading around their bodies.
But the piece was a well-disguised counterfeit, among more than 200 fakes of works by artists like Banksy, Picasso and the Native American painter Fritz Scholder, which sold for a total of more than $2 million. Many of the works were made by an artist in Poland, and commissioned by a father and daughter living in New Jersey.
On Tuesday, the father and daughter, Erwin Bankowski and Karolina Bankowska, pleaded guilty in Federal District Court in Brooklyn to running a scheme to sell the counterfeit works.
The duo “painted themselves as purveyors of fine art while selling lies on canvas to unsuspecting collectors,” Joseph Nocella Jr., the U.S. attorney in Brooklyn, said in a statement.
Federal guidelines call for a prison sentence of 33 to 41 months for each defendant. Both Mr. Bankowski and Mr. Bankowska are citizens of Poland and face deportation after serving their sentences. They are set to be sentenced on Aug. 5.
Todd Spodek, a lawyer for Ms. Bankowska, 26, said his client had accepted responsibility for her crimes. Jeffrey Chabrowe, a lawyer for Mr. Bankowski, 50, said his client also accepted responsibility and had “made a terrible decision to support his family.”
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