Connecticut man Nicholas P. Hatch has been sentenced to 14 months in federal prison for selling 145 fraudulent Peter Max paintings. Hatch was ordered by the US District Court in Connecticut to restitute the $248,000 he earned from selling these paintings to 43 online buyers.
Hatch sold counterfeit Max paintings for between $1,325 and $2,833 and would occasionally provide fraudulent certificates of authenticity. The FBI launched their investigation in 2021 after they were tipped off by one of Max’s employees at Hatch Estate Services. Hatch’s sentence begins on 17 June and includes three years of supervised release.
Peter Max is an American pop artist known for his psychedelic paintings that tend to sell between $10,000 and $20,000.
