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Arrested: Spanish art swindler wanted by FBI

A Spanish art dealer who made world headlines through earning millions of dollars by allegedly producing and selling fake artworks by major artists has been arrested during Easter celebrations in southern Spain.

Published: 21 April 2014 11:38 CEST

Arrested: Spanish art swindler wanted by FBI

Bergantiños is wanted for allegedly creating fake artworks by painters including Jackson Pollock, who created the artwork in this image. File photo: Timothy A. Clary/AFP

Spanish entrepreneur José Carlos Bergantiños Díaz was arrested on Friday at a hotel in the Spanish city of Seville after months on the run, Spain's Interior Ministry reported.

Wanted for allegedly selling fake paintings by big name artists including Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko, the Galician suffered a panic attack after being detained, and had to briefly hospitalized.

Bergantiños, from Galicia's Lugo province, is currently being held in Seville but is expected to be transferred to Madrid where he is expected to face extradition hearings.

He has already appeared before a judge in Seville, local Spanish daily Faro de Vigo reported on Monday.

US federal prosecutors and the FBI believe the art expert and philanthropist and his girlfriend Glafira Rosales over 15 years ran an art scam that saw them rake in $80 million (€58 million) by selling off dozens of fake artworks by renowned artists.

Rosales pleaded guilty to participating to the scheme in 2013 and has been participating with authorities since that time, the New York Times reported.

The paintings sold by the pair were actually produced by a Chinese immigrant working out of a basement in the New York neighbourhood of Queens and aged artificially, US authorities said.

These pieces of art were then presented as genuine with the signatures of the famous artists also forged, authorities added.

Bergantiños is "an autodidact with a good nose (for art)," as well as being a "great escapist and storyteller", sources close to the man told Spain's ABC newspaper.

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Seven-year-old 'mini-Picasso' shakes up German art world

The then 6-year-old Akar at an exhibition for his paintings in Hamburg in February 2019. Photo: DPA

With his striped jumper, goofy grin and dreams of becoming a professional footballer, Akar seems just like any other seven-year-old boy.

Yet the Cologne-born youngster is actually an expressionist whizz kid who has taken the international art scene by storm.

Dubbed the “pre-school Picasso” by German media, Akar's paintings now sell for thousands of euros to buyers from across the world.

'Enough action figures'

“At just seven years old, he is established in the art world. There is interest from Germany, France and the USA,” his father and manager, Kerem Akar, told AFP.

READ ALSO: Art in Germany: 10 critically-acclaimed galleries you can't miss

Akar senior discovered Mikail's precocious talent by chance several years ago, when he gifted his son a canvas and some handprint paints for his fourth birthday.

“We had already bought him enough cars and action figures, so we had the idea of getting him a canvas,” Kerem Akar said.

“The first picture looked fantastic, and I thought at first that my wife had painted it.”

“I thought maybe it was just coincidence, but by the second and third pictures it was clear he had talent.”

Akar with his parents Kerem (l) und Elvan at a Hamburg gallery in February 2019. Photo: DPA

Boxing gloves

Akar's talent is visible in his latest collection, a collaboration with Germany and Bayern Munich football star Manuel Neuer.

One work in the collection was recently sold for 11,000 euros, with proceeds going to Neuer's children's charity.

An explosion of colour reminiscent of Jackson Pollock, the piece is typical of Akar's abstract expressionist style.

The seven-year-old tells AFP that his idols include Pollock, Michael Jackson and Jean-Michel Basquiat.

He has also developed his own techniques, which include applying paint by punching the canvas with his father's boxing gloves.

At a presentation of Akar's new work at a private gallery in Berlin last month, one visitor said she was “speechless” upon discovering that the artist was a child who was just starting primary school.

“The balance and harmony of the composition — I wouldn't expect that from a child,” Arina Daehnick, a photographer from Berlin, told AFP.

Diana Achtzig, director of the Achtzig Gallery for Contemporary Art in Berlin, said she was impressed by Akar's “imagination and variation”.

“As long as he has someone supporting him and not exploiting him, then he has a great future ahead of him,” she said.

Football dreams

Akar himself says his dreams for when he has grown up lie elsewhere.

“When I'm older I want to be a football player,” he said, launching into an excited account of a recent 8-0 victory with his school team.

“Painting is quite tiring for me. Sometimes it can take a long time…especially with boxing gloves,” he said.

His father insists that he and his wife are careful not to push their son too hard and to protect him from the trappings of fame.

“If it gets too much for him, we will intervene. We turn down a lot of requests,” said the elder Akar.

“He only paints when he wants to. Sometimes that is once a week, sometimes
once a month.”

Successful brand

Yet Akar senior also admits that his life has changed dramatically since discovering his son's talent, and that he and his wife now “live for art”.

A former salesman and recruitment agent, the 38-year-old has since switched
to managing Mikail full time.

He has founded his own agency, and helped to establish his son as a successful brand.

At the event in Berlin, young Mikail rummages through a box of freshly ordered baseball caps adorned with his official logo.

He now has more than 40,000 followers on Instagram, and will exhibit his work abroad for the first time in the spring.

“Our next exhibition is in Cologne,” said the boy's father. “After that, we are going to Paris!”

By Kit Holden

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