The Orlando Museum of Art has filed a lawsuit against its former director and five co-owners of fake paintings attributed to Jean-Michel Basquiat. The lawsuit alleges that Aaron De Groft was involved in a scheme to exhibit counterfeit artworks and profit from them, splitting the money with the co-owners. This lawsuit also accuses the co-owners of using the museum’s reputation to legitimize the fraudulent paintings and increase their value. De Groft denies any wrongdoing and claims he was not promised any sales commission.
Read more: The entire lawsuit filed by The Orlando Museum of Art
However, after months of the museum offering few public comments about the case, the lawsuit represents change. The museum is taking a more aggressive approach to distance itself from De Groft and the Basquiat scandal that has upended the institution.
In a statement on Tuesday, the museum’s current board chair, Mark Elliott had this to say:
The Orlando Museum of Art has filed a lawsuit against those responsible for bringing the Heroes & Monsters Exhibition–purportedly featuring never-before-seen works by Jean-Michel Basquiat–to the Orlando Museum last year. The lawsuit filed Monday, August 14, 2023, in the Circuit Court of Orange County, Florida (Complaint) details the facts and circumstances that led to these works eventually finding their way to the Museum and seeks to hold responsible the people the Museum believes knowingly misrepresented the works’ authenticity and provenance. Given that litigation has commenced, the OMA looks forward to presenting its case to a jury.
Mark Elliott, Board Chair at The Orlando Museum of Art
Learn more about the lawsuit
The lawsuit seeks damages for fraud, conspiracy, breach of fiduciary duty, and breach of contract. It describes how the museum spent significant resources exhibiting the fake paintings and the subsequent damage to its reputation. The museum aims to distance itself from De Groft and the scandal.
The timeline presented in the lawsuit shows that De Groft agreed to exhibit the paintings without inspecting them beforehand. Despite concerns raised by museum employees about their authenticity, those concerns were allegedly dismissed by De Groft. The lawsuit also mentions an article by The New York Times questioning the paintings’ authenticity, which led to the early end of the exhibition.
The lawsuit suggests that De Groft aimed to authenticate and sell not only the fake Basquiat paintings but also other artworks with questionable origins. It further notes that the museum’s board was unaware of the FBI investigation until it was reported by The New York Times. While the lawsuit primarily blames De Groft, it acknowledges previous reports indicating that the former board chair, Cynthia Brumback, was aware of the investigation but chose not to disclose it.
The lawsuit concludes by stating that it will take the Orlando Museum of Art a long time to rebuild its reputation, recover donors, and repair the damage caused by the defendants if such recovery is even possible.