Glafira Rosales, Tax Evasion, New York 2023

MANHATTAN, NEW YORK – MAY 22, 2023

Glafira Rosales, a notorious art dealer, was arrested today in Sands Point, New York, and charged with filing false tax returns and failing to disclose a foreign bank account to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The arrest is a result of an investigation by the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Rosales allegedly failed to report the receipt of at least $12.5 million in income from the sale of works purported to be by celebrated abstract expressionist artists. Most of the income was received in a bank account in Spain that Rosales hid from, and failed to disclose to, the IRS.

According to the allegations in the Complaint unsealed today in Manhattan federal court, Rosales began selling previously unknown paintings that had never been exhibited before, and that she claimed were painted by some of the most famous artists of the 20th century, including Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, and Willem de Kooning. From 2006 through 2008, Rosales sold approximately one dozen of these paintings to two prominent Manhattan galleries for over $14 million.

The investigation has revealed that experts in the fields of art, art history, and materials science have concluded that at least several of the paintings sold by Rosales are counterfeit. Additionally, the investigation has found that the client on whose behalf Rosales claimed to sell most of the paintings to the Manhattan galleries never existed, and that the client on whose behalf she claimed to sell the remainder of the paintings to the Manhattan galleries never owned the paintings.

Rosales will be presented in Manhattan federal court this afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn.

The charges against Rosales include filing false tax returns and failing to disclose a foreign bank account to the IRS. The investigation is ongoing, and Rosales’s lawyer has not commented on the charges.

Defendant Information: Glafira Rosales is a (charge) facing charges of filing false tax returns and failing to disclose a foreign bank account to the IRS. The case is currently pending in Manhattan federal court.

Mandatory Facts: Defendant: Glafira Rosales; Exact Criminal Charges: filing false tax returns and failing to disclose a foreign bank account to the IRS; City and State: Manhattan, New York; Exact Date: May 22, 2023; Sentence or Outcome: currently pending.

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