A year ago New York dealer Robert Rogal was offered a framed watercolor signed Andrew Wyeth by a young woman who identified herself as Karolina Bankowska. She said it was a family heirloom; Rogal, intrigued by its resemblance to Wyeth’s early landscapes, took the work on consignment and estimated it might fetch $20,000 to $30,000 at auction.
Rogal later concluded the painting was likely a forgery. Federal prosecutors say that conclusion fits a much larger scheme: Bankowska, 26, and her father Erwin Bankowski, 50, pleaded guilty this week after admitting they tried to pass off at least 200 carefully produced fakes to unsuspecting buyers, defrauding auction houses and private collectors of at least $2 million.
According to authorities, the counterfeits were made in Poland by an unnamed co-conspirator and reproduced lesser-known pieces by prolific artists, including works attributed to Banksy and Andy Warhol. Their biggest single sale was a painting attributed to Richard Mayhew that brought $160,000 at DuMouchelles last October. Several major auction houses named in filings — such as Bonhams, Phillips, Freeman’s and Antique Arena — either declined to comment or did not respond; DuMouchelles said it cooperated with investigators.
The Bankowskis, who live in New Jersey and are Polish citizens, face charges including wire-fraud conspiracy and misrepresenting Native American–produced goods tied to works attributed to Luiseño artist Fritz Scholder. Under federal guidelines they face the possibility of more than three years in prison, about $1.9 million in restitution, and potential deportation.
In court Bankowska said in a statement that her conduct was wrong and that she was guilty; her lawyer said she had placed over $1 million into an escrow account. Erwin Bankowski apologized through a Polish interpreter; his attorney described his actions as a terrible decision made to support his family.
Experts say the scheme relied on familiar forgery tactics. Erin Thompson, a City University of New York professor who studies art crime, observed that the only unusual aspect was that the forgers were caught: many fakes circulate undetected. Prosecutors say the pair used antique paper, forged gallery stamps and even the names of defunct galleries to boost plausibility.
Red flags appeared quickly: representatives for artist Raimonds Staprans identified a forged “Triple Boats” in March 2023, yet the work still sold for $60,000 days later. Rogal noted specific inconsistencies on the suspected Wyeth — an apparently authentic gallery stamp listed a 1976 year but used a zoning number phased out in 1962 and included the name of M. Knoedler & Co., a gallery that closed amid scandal in 2011.
Rogal never listed the Wyeth, saying the backstamp looked “too clean,” and when he tried to retrieve it Bankowska did not respond. He recently examined the piece again at a Queens warehouse holding consigned works. “Can we be fooled? Absolutely,” he said.