The Biggest Art Fraud Ring in History

CANADALAND

The late Norval Morrisseau is known as Canada's Picasso. He was the father of the Woodlands style. His work was exhibited at the Pompidou Center in Paris, the National Gallery of Canada, and he was a member of the Order of Canada. Morrisseau is without question one of the most important painters in Canadian history. So why are so-called original Morrisseau paintings selling on eBay for $129?

The answer is fraud. The market has been flooded with thousands of fake Morrisseau paintings and prints. In March 2023, eight people were charged and arrested in connection with these fakes and are now starting to be convicted. The police investigation started, in part, because of the Jamie Kastner documentary There Are No Fakes.

Credits: Tristan Capacchione (Audio Editor and Technical Producer), Bruce Thorson (Senior Producer), Kevin O’Keefe (Fact Checking), max collins (Production Manager), Jesse Brown (Host and Publisher)

Featured guests: Ryan McMahon and Jamie Kastner

Additional music by Audio Network

Further information:

• There Are No Fakes — TVO
• 8 charged over 1,000 paintings seized in Norval Morrisseau art fraud investigation — CBC
• Man who oversaw massive Norval Morrisseau art forgeries sentenced in Thunder Bay to 5 years in prison — RCI

Sponsors:

CAMH: CAMH is building better mental health care for everyone to ensure no one is left behind. This Mental Illness Awareness Week, your donation to CAMH will be matched. Visit https://camh.ca/canadaland to double your impact.

Crow’s Theatre: Enter the world of ROSMERSHOLM, on stage until October 6th ONLY. Buy your tickets today at https://crowstheatre.com

Douglas: Douglas is giving our listeners a FREE Sleep Bundle with each mattress purchase. Get the sheets, pillows, mattress and pillow protectors FREE with your Douglas purchase today. Visit https://douglas.ca/canadaland to claim this offer!

Squarespace: Check out https://squarespace.com/canadaland for a free trial, and when you’re ready to launch use code canadaland to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.

Article: Article is offering our listeners $50 off your first purchase of $100 or more. To claim this offer, visit https://article.com/canadaland and the discount will be automatically applied at checkout.

If you value this podcast, support us! You’ll get premium access to all our shows ad free, including early releases and bonus content. You’ll also get our exclusive newsletter, discounts on merch at our store, tickets to our live and virtual events, and more than anything, you’ll be a part of the solution to Canada’s journalism crisis, you’ll be keeping our work free and accessible to everybody.

You can listen ad-free on Amazon Music—included with Prime.

---

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.