Current:Home > ScamsFormer CEO at center of fake Basquiats scandal countersues museum, claiming he is being scapegoated -PureWealth Academy
Former CEO at center of fake Basquiats scandal countersues museum, claiming he is being scapegoated
View
Date:2025-04-13 11:56:41
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A former executive director of a Florida museum that was raided last year by the FBI over an exhibit of what turned out to be forged Jean-Michel Basquiat paintings filed counterclaims Tuesday against the museum, claiming wrongful termination and defamation. The countersuit comes months after the institution sued him and others over the scandal.
Former CEO Aaron De Groft said in court papers in Orlando, Florida, that the board chairwoman and outside lawyers for the Orlando Museum of Art had signed off on the exhibit, even after the FBI had subpoenaed the museum’s records over the exhibit in July 2021.
De Groft said he was being made a scapegoat and that the museum’s lawsuit against him was a public relations stunt to save face and make him “the fall guy.” De Groft was fired in June 2022 after the FBI raid.
After reviewing documents and interviewing De Groft and other staff members, the outside lawyers told the executive director and chairwoman that there was no reason to pull the plug on the exhibit, as did FBI investigators, De Groft said in court papers filed in state court.
“These two statements fortified Defendant’s belief that the 25 paintings were authentic Basquiats,” said the former museum CEO.
De Groft is seeking more than $50,000 for wrongful termination, defamation and breach of contract.
An email seeking comment was sent Tuesday evening to a spokeswoman for the Orlando Museum of Art.
In the museum’s fraud, breach of contract and conspiracy lawsuit against De Groft and others, the institution claims its reputation was left in tatters, and it was put on probation by the American Alliance of Museums.
Basquiat, who lived and worked in New York City, found success in the 1980s as part of the neo-Expressionism movement. The Orlando Museum of Art was the first institution to display the more than two dozen artworks said to have been found in an old storage locker decades after Basquiat’s 1988 death from a drug overdose at age 27.
Questions about the artworks’ authenticity arose almost immediately after their reported discovery in 2012. The artwork was purportedly made in 1982, but experts have pointed out that the cardboard used in at least one of the pieces included FedEx typeface that wasn’t used until 1994, about six years after Basquiat died, according to the federal warrant from the museum raid.
Also, television writer Thad Mumford, the owner of the storage locker where the art was eventually found, told investigators that he had never owned any Basquiat art and that the pieces were not in the unit the last time he had visited. Mumford died in 2018.
In April, former Los Angeles auctioneer Michael Barzman agreed to plead guilty to federal charges of making false statements to the FBI, admitting that he and an accomplice had created the fake artwork and falsely attributed the paintings to Basquiat.
___
Follow Mike Schneider on X, formerly known as Twitter: @MikeSchneiderAP.
veryGood! (333)
Related
- A South Texas lawmaker’s 15
- Move Over, Jorts: Boxer Shorts Dominate Summer 2024 — Our Top 14 Picks for Effortless Cool-Girl Style
- This week on Sunday Morning (June 23)
- Oklahoma City will host 2026 Olympics softball, canoe
- 'Survivor' 47 finale, part one recap: 2 players were sent home. Who's left in the game?
- Hawaii settles lawsuit from youths over climate change. Here’s what to know about the historic deal
- How Oliver Platt moonlights on ‘The Bear,’ while still clocking in at ‘Chicago Med’
- Vitamix recalls 569,000 blending containers and blade bases after dozens of lacerations
- JoJo Siwa reflects on Candace Cameron Bure feud: 'If I saw her, I would not say hi'
- Historic night at Rickwood Field: MLB pays tribute to Willie Mays, Negro Leagues
Ranking
- Meta donates $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund
- Hutchinson Island rip current drowns Pennsylvania couple vacationing in Florida
- Be in a biker gang with Tom Hardy? Heck yeah. 🏍️
- Pursuit of Milwaukee carjacking suspects ends with police shooting 2 teens in stolen vehicle
- Matt Damon remembers pal Robin Williams: 'He was a very deep, deep river'
- Attacker of Nancy Pelosi’s husband also found guilty of kidnapping and could face more prison time
- Woman ID'd 21 years after body, jewelry found by Florida landscapers; search underway for killer
- Barry Bonds 'knew I needed to come' to Rickwood Field for his godfather, Willie Mays
Recommendation
'Malcolm in the Middle’ to return with new episodes featuring Frankie Muniz
When do new episodes of 'Power Book II: Ghost' Season 4, Part One come out?
Malik Monk remaining in Sacramento, agrees to $78 million deal with Kings, per reports
Hawaii residents fined $20K after Hawaiian monk seal pup mauled by unleashed dogs
The GOP and Kansas’ Democratic governor ousted targeted lawmakers in the state’s primary
Perfect Match’s Jess Vestal and Harry Jowsey Reveal What Went Wrong in Romance Off Camera
New York county reaches $1.75 million settlement with family of man fatally shot by police in 2011
New York county reaches $1.75 million settlement with family of man fatally shot by police in 2011