Daniel Elie Bouaziz faces four charges in connection to an alleged art forgery scam he was running out of his Palm Beach art gallery.
Sarah Cascone, May 31, 2022
Florida art dealer Daniel Elie Bouaziz has been charged with wire fraud, mail fraud, and money laundering for allegedly selling fake works attributed to such big names as Jean-Michel Basquiat, Andy Warhol, Banksy, Henri Matisse, Keith Haring, and Roy Lichtenstein.
News of Bouraziz’s alleged illegal activities first came to light when the FBI raided one of his Palm Beach galleries, Danieli Fine Art, in December. He also owns Galerie Danieli; both businesses are located on Worth Avenue, which has become a hot spot for prestigious international art galleries in the wealthy Florida enclave.
Galerie Danieli stood out from its white-cube, blue-chip neighbors. It was decorated with velvet ropes, a red carpet, and over-the-top crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. Art was hung salon-style alongside large television monitors displaying NFT drops.
When Artnet News visited in December, just days ahead of the raid, a gallery employee sternly reprimanded us for taking photographs.
An NFT drop and other artwork at Galerie Danieli in Palm Beach shortly before the FBI raided the gallery. Photo by Sarah Cascone.
Authorities believe many of the forgeries are cheap reproductions with fake seals of authenticity—like a “Basquiat” that Bouaziz stands accused of having bought on LiveAuctioneers for $495 before flipping it to an undercover FBI agent for $12 million.
“Provenance is father of Basquiat so there is not really a conversation about it,” Bouaziz reportedly assured the buyer. According to the FBI, a former member of Basquiat’s now-defunct authentication committee identified the work as a fake. The work was part of a collection that included cheap imitations of Banksy, Haring, and Georgia O’Keeffe on offer for $22 million.
A fake Jean-Michel Basquiat sold by Daniel Elie Bouaziz for $12 million. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Department of Justice.
Bouaziz is said to have similarly sold a €450 ($485) Lichtenstein print to an undercover agent for $25,000. Investigators found it had different colors than the real version included in the artist’s catalogue raisonné.
The Algeria-born, French art dealer also tried to entice an agent to buy a purported George Rodrigue painting, Blue Dog, claiming it came from a Palm Beach collector: “Not much to say. It’s just a beauty,” Bouaziz is quoted as saying in the complaint. He originally bought it for $140, but was offering it for $48,000, authorities said.
A fake George Rodrigue painting, Blue Dog, that Daniel Elie Bouaziz was selling for $48,000. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Department of Justice.
One of Bouaziz’s alleged victims spent $85,000 on a $100 Warhol reproduction presented as the real deal, according to the criminal complaint. Another thought he had snagged a Lichtenstein, a Matisse, and a Warhol for $290,000—until a New York gallery director warned him this “Holy Grail” was “too good to be true.”
To pass off the knock-offs as originals, Bouaziz is believed to have forged signatures and provided false provenance documents.
Galerie Danieli in Palm Beach shortly before the FBI raided the gallery. Photo by Sarah Cascone.
Eventually, some of Bouaziz’s unsatisfied clients started demanding their money back.
“Other victims, who also reported concerns to Bouaziz about the authenticity of their purchased work, both before and after the execution of the gallery search warrants, received some repayment from Bouaziz,” the lawsuit says.
Bouaziz appeared in West Palm Beach court on Friday, and was released on $500,000 bail. He has yet to enter a plea.
Each of the four charges Bouaziz faces could lead up to 20 years behind bars and a fine of $250,000 to $500,000. Artnet News was unable to reach the gallery for comment.
Share
By Cathy Fan, May 5, 2022
By Eileen Kinsella & Katya Kazakina, Dec 15, 2021
By Tim Schneider, Jun 1, 2022
By Caroline Goldstein, May 31, 2022
©2022 Artnet Worldwide Corporation. All Rights Reserved.var w = Math.max(document.documentElement.clientWidth, window.innerWidth || 0),
h = Math.max(document.documentElement.clientHeight, window.innerHeight || 0),
pagetype = document.querySelector(‘meta[property=”og:type”]’).getAttribute(“content”),
pagetypeurl = document.URL,
pagetypeforce = pagetypeurl.substr(pagetypeurl.length – 3);
isnewsletter = pagetypeurl.includes(“?page_1”);
w = pagetype + 20 * Math.round(w / 20), h = pagetype + 20 * Math.round(h / 20), googletag.cmd.push(function() {
googletag.pubads().setTargeting(“width”, w), googletag.pubads().setTargeting(“height”, h), 1 == isnewsletter && googletag.pubads().setTargeting(“isfirstpage”, [‘Y’, pagetypeforce] )
});
(function defernl() {
if (window.jQuery) {
if (jQuery(window).width() > 619) {
setTimeout(function() {
var cookieSettings = {
recentlyShown: {
expiration_minutes: 5
},
signedUp: {
expiration_days: 14
},
closedSignupBar: {
expiration_days: 5
}
};
var generalSettings = {
loadFontAwesome: false
};
if (!window.jQuery) loadJQuery();
var $ = window.jQuery;
function addCss(fileName) {
var head = document.head
, link = document.createElement(‘link’);
link.type = ‘text/css’;
link.rel = ‘stylesheet’;
link.href = fileName;
head.appendChild(link);
}
function appendNewsletterSignup() {
var signup =
”
//hide on mobile phones
+ ‘ @media (max-width: 575px){ #ouibounce-modal {display:none !important;} }’
+ ‘ @media (max-width: 767px){ .close-signup {top:0 !important;} }’
+ ‘ @media (max-width: 1199px){ #ouibounce-modal .description {font-size:13px !important;} }’
+ ”
+ ‘
+ ‘
+ ‘
+ ”
+ ”
+ ‘
+ ‘
+ ‘
Get hand-picked stories from our editors delivered straight to your inbox every day.
‘
+ ‘
‘
+ ‘
+ ‘
+ ‘
+ ‘
+ ‘Please enter a valid email address’
+ ‘
‘
+ ‘
+ ‘Signup failed. Please try again later.’
+ ‘
‘
+ ‘
‘
+ ‘
+ ‘‘
+ ‘
‘
+ ”
+ ”
+ ‘
‘
+ ‘
‘
+ ‘
‘
+ ”
+ ‘
‘
+ ‘
‘
+ ‘
‘
+ ‘
‘
+ ‘
‘;
$(‘body’).append(signup);
}
var paywallPagesRegex = /^/subscribe|subscribe-confirm|my-account(/|$)/;
function initNewsletterSignup() {
// don’t show it on paywall-related pages where the user might be in the process
// of subscribing, or managing their account
if (paywallPagesRegex.test(window.location.pathname)) {
return;
}
// Append ouibounce to page
var ouibounceScript = ”;
$(‘body’).append(ouibounceScript);
// Add animation css
addCss(‘https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/animate.css/3.5.2/animate.min.css’);
if (generalSettings.loadFontAwesome) {
addCss(‘https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/font-awesome/4.7.0/css/font-awesome.min.css’);
}
// Check if ouibounce exist before calling ouibounce
var initOuibounce = setInterval(function() {
if (typeof ouibounce !== ‘undefined’) {
appendNewsletterSignup();
var $modal = $(‘#ouibounce-modal’);
SignupForm.init($modal.find(‘form’), function onSuccess() {
//hide form fields and show thank-you message
$modal.find(‘.form-row’).hide();
$modal.find(‘.newsletter-signup-thank-you’).fadeIn(‘fast’);
setNewsletterCookie(‘signedUp’, 1);
//after successful signup, hide the signup bar after 5 seconds
setTimeout(function() {
closeSignupBar();
}, 5000);
});
// Handler for close signup button
$(‘body’).on( ‘click’, ‘.close-signup’, function(){
setNewsletterCookie(‘closedSignupBar’, 1);
closeSignupBar();
});
ouibounceAPIaccess = ouibounce(
$modal[0], {
aggressive: true,
sensitivity: 50,
callback: function() {
slideInModal(‘Down’);
}
}
);
clearInterval(initOuibounce);
}
}, 100);
}
function slideInModal(upOrDown) {
$(‘#ouibounce-modal’)
.removeClass(‘slideOutDown slideOutUp’)
.addClass( ‘slideIn’ + upOrDown );
setNewsletterCookie(‘recentlyShown’, 1);
}
function setNewsletterCookie(cookieName, value) {
//exdays*24*60*60
var settings = cookieSettings[cookieName];
var expirationMinutes = settings.expiration_minutes;
if (!expirationMinutes) {
expirationMinutes = daysToMinutes(settings.expiration_days);
}
setCookie(cookieName, value, expirationMinutes);
}
function daysToMinutes(numDays) {
return numDays * 24 * 60;
}
/**
* Generic setCookie() method, used by setNewsletterCookie().
* There is probably no need to call this directly – use setNewsletterCookie().
*/
function setCookie(cname, cvalue, expMinutes, prefix) {
//default prefix is ‘artnet_newsletter_’
if (prefix == undefined) {
prefix = ‘artnet_newsletter_’;
}
var d = new Date();
d.setTime(d.getTime() + (expMinutes*60*1000));
var expires = “expires=”+d.toUTCString();
//console.log(prefix + cname + “=” + cvalue + “;” + expires + “;path=/”);
document.cookie = prefix + cname + “=” + cvalue + “;” + expires + “;path=/”;
}
function getCookie(cname, prefix) {
//default prefix is ‘artnet_newsletter_’
if (prefix == undefined) {
prefix = ‘artnet_newsletter_’;
}
var name = prefix + cname + “=”;
var ca = document.cookie.split(‘;’);
for(var i = 0; i <ca.length; i++) {
var c = ca[i];
while (c.charAt(0)==' ') {
c = c.substring(1);
}
if (c.indexOf(name) == 0) {
return c.substring(name.length,c.length);
}
}
return "";
}
function closeSignupBar() {
var $modal = $('#ouibounce-modal');
$modal.addClass( $modal.hasClass('slideInUp') ? 'slideOutDown': 'slideOutUp' );
}
function loadJQuery() {
var script = document.createElement('script');
script.src = "https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.1.1.min.js";
script.integrity = "sha256-hVVnYaiADRTO2PzUGmuLJr8BLUSjGIZsDYGmIJLv2b8=";
script.crossorigin = "anonymous";
document.body.appendChild(script);
}
function checkCookies() {
//if any of these cookies are found, we don't show the modal.
var cookieNames = ['recentlyShown', 'signedUp', 'closedSignupBar','signup_cookie'];
var i = cookieNames.length,
found = false;
while (i–) {
if (getCookie(cookieNames[i]).length) {
found = true;
break;
}
}
if (!found) {
initNewsletterSignup();
}
}
var SignupForm = {
regex: {
email: /^([a-zA-Z0-9_.-])+@(([a-zA-Z0-9-])+.)+([a-zA-Z0-9]{2,4})+$/
},
// Init – Anything you want to happen onLoad (usually event bindings)
// ——————————————————————-
init: function (formElement, onSuccess) {
var ctx = this;
ctx.customSerializer();
if (!onSuccess) {
throw Error('onSuccess callback is required');
}
var $form = $(formElement);
$form.submit(function(e){
e.preventDefault();
var $email = $form.find('.signup-email');
var valid = ctx.validate( $form, $email);
if(valid){
// Hide the errors
$form.find('.errors').children().hide();
// Submit the form
ctx.submit($form, onSuccess);
} else {
// Focus on the email input box
$email.focus();
// Show email validation error and hide other errors
$form.find('.invalid-email').show().siblings().hide();
}
});
},
// FUNCTIONS
// ===================================================================
// Signup validation
// ——————————————————————-
validate: function( $form, $email ){
var ctx = this;
// Does the email match our regex?
return ctx.regex.email.test( $email.val() );
},
// Signup submission
// ——————————————————————-
submit: function($form, onSuccess) {
var ctx = this;
$.ajax({
type: $form.attr('method'),
url: $form.attr('action'),
data: JSON.stringify( $form.serializeFormJSON() ),
// dataType: 'json',
contentType: 'application/json; charset=UTF-8',
crossDomain: true,
timeout: 10000
})
.done(function(data, textStatus, jqXHR) {
onSuccess();
})
.fail(function(jqXHR, textStatus){
// Show signup failure error and hide other errors
$form.find('.signup-failed').show().siblings().hide();
});
},
// Extends jQuery with a function to serialize to JSON
// ——————————————————————-
customSerializer: function(){
$.fn.serializeFormJSON = function () {
var o = {};
var a = this.serializeArray();
$.each(a, function () {
if (o[this.name]) {
if (!o[this.name].push) {
o[this.name] = [o[this.name]];
}
o[this.name].push(this.value || '');
} else {
o[this.name] = this.value || '';
}
});
return o;
};
}
};
//show automatically after delay
setTimeout(function(){
var $modal = $('#ouibounce-modal');
//if there are cookies indicating that we shouldn't show the signup bar, then the modal won't have been added to the page
//and we can just return here.
if (!$modal.length) {
return;
}
//don't run this function if the user has already triggered the modal by leaving the viewport
if ($modal.hasClass('slideInDown')) return;
//position at bottom of screen
$modal.css({
top: 'auto',
bottom: 0
});
slideInModal('Up');
$modal.show();
},20000); //20 seconds
$(function() {
checkCookies();
});
}, 7500);
}
} else {
setTimeout(function() { defernl() }, 250);
}
})();
artnet and our partners use cookies to provide features on our sites and applications to improve your online experience, including for analysis of site usage, traffic measurement, and for advertising and content management. See our Privacy Policy for more information about cookies. By continuing to use our sites and applications, you agree to our use of cookies.