February 2011 Killala Fine Art sues the dealer Julian Weissman and the Dedalus Foundation over the sale of an alleged fake by Robert Motherwell
May 2011 The Dedalus Foundation files its own lawsuit against Weissman. Court papers reveal that the dealer bought the work from the art dealer Glafira Rosales
October 2011 Killala Fine Art settles. The Dedalus Foundation is granted the right to stamp the painting as a forgery
November 2011 Knoedler Gallery closes abruptly after 165 years
December 2011 Hedge-fund executive Pierre Lagrange sues the gallery and its former director, Ann Freedman, over a Pollock he bought in 2007 for $17m and which he now claims is inauthentic. Rosales is under investigation by the FBI
March 2012 Domenico De Sole, the chairman of Tom Ford International, sues Knoedler and Freedman over the $8.3m sale of an allegedly counterfeit painting by Rothko in 2004
July 2012 Wall Street executive John Howard sues Knoedler, Freedman, Rosales, Rosales’s partner Jose Carlos Bergantinos Diaz, Knoedler’s former chairman Michael Hammer and others for alleged involvement in the $4m sale of a fake Willem de Kooning in 2007
October 2012 Lagrange’s lawsuit is settled. Weissman and his gallery are sued for allegedly selling a “deliberate fake” Motherwell to the Kuwaiti sheikha Paula Al-Sabah
January 2013 The Martin Hilti Family Trust sues Knoedler, its parent corporation 8-31 Holdings, Freedman, Rosales, Hammer and Diaz over their involvement in the $5.5m sale of an allegedly fake Mark Rothko painting in 2002
February 2013 Theatre impresario David Mirvish and philanthropist Frances Hamilton White file separate suits over paintings purportedly by Pollock that they bought from Knoedler Gallery
May 2013 The former ambassador to Romania, Nicholas Taubman, sues Knoedler, Hammer, Rosales and Freedman over the sale of an allegedly fake painting by Clyfford Still
July 2013 Rosales is indicted by a federal grand jury for wire fraud, money-laundering and knowingly selling more than 60 fake paintings to two New York galleries
August 2013 The New York Times identifies the painter of the fake works—who has been investigated but not arrested or charged with any wrongdoing—as Pei-Shen Qian, a 73-year-old Chinese immigrant living in Queens, New York
September 2013 Freedman files a defamation suit against fellow dealer Marco Grassi on 11 September, after he was quoted in New York Magazine saying that she did not perform “due diligence” in authenticating works supplied by Rosales. Five days later, Rosales pleads guilty to all nine counts brought against her by the district attorney, admitting that the works she sold were forgeries. She faces 99 years in prison and repayment to victims of as much as $81m.
Originally appeared as 'Who sued whom: the Knoedler lawsuits'
