Paris prosecutors have requested that Giuliano Ruffini, who is suspected of being the mastermind behind a ring trafficking forgeries of Old Master paintings, be sent to trial for commercial deception and money laundering. In a document seen by The Art Newspaper, the prosecutors also requested the renewal of an arrest warrant for the Italian painter Lino Frongia, who has been named as the alleged creator of some major forged works, and who they say is “on the run” in Italy.
For technical reasons, Clemence Radafshar and Marianne Frochot from Parquet de Paris (the Paris Prosecutor’s Office) have recommended focusing on the money laundering and deception charges and dropping the most serious charges of gang fraud. The prosecution is also pushing for Giuliano Ruffini’s son Mathieu—along with two intermediaries, Jean-Charles Méthiaz and Michaël Tordjmann, with whom Giuliano Ruffini is now in a financial dispute—to face trial on charges of money laundering.
The indictment is to be confirmed in the coming weeks by a judge, after which a trial could be scheduled as early as 2027.
Giuliano Ruffini has been at the centre of an international forgery scandal since 2016, when a painting of Venus, exhibited as a Cranach, was seized from the collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein. Ruffini was found to have previously owned the work.
The ensuing scandal embroiled major museums such as the Musée du Louvre in Paris, the National Gallery in London and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, as well as auction houses like Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Dorotheum, art galleries across Europe and dozens of experts and dealers. Between them these organisations had at some point either authenticated or borrowed paintings that were sold by Ruffini and later attributed to artists including Orazio Gentileschi, Parmigianino and Frans Hals.
Over more than 15 years, the prosecution has retained 13 works designated as fakes after forensic examinations by the French Museums’ laboratory in the Louvre; James Martin’s Orion Analytical in the US; French expert Violaine de Villemereuil; Anna Tummers, a Dutch historian of the Golden Age; and Gunnar Heydenreich, head of the Cranach Digital Archive. These works include the Venus, a portrait attributed to Frans Hals, which was at the centre of a legal dispute between Sotheby’s and the dealer Mark Weiss, a striking David contemplating the head of Goliath attributed to Orazio Gentileschi, a Portrait of cardinal Borgia claimed to be by Diego Velázquez, as well as works credited to El Greco, Correggio, Solario and the Brueghels. Most of the owners of these pieces still believe in their authenticity.
In 2016, Ruffini—who has always maintained his innocence—told The Art Newspaper: “The dealers, curators and experts were responsible for these attributions, not me. I have never attributed these paintings to Old Masters”.
The prosecutors insist that none of these works holds a credible provenance. Most were presented by Ruffini as originating from the collection of a French entrepreneur, André Borie. “The investigation established that André Borie never owned an art collection, as confirmed by his grandson, his former employees and the notary of his inheritance,” the prosecution states in its case.
In December 2022, Ruffini was charged in Paris for gang fraud and money laundering. He was granted €1m bail and has been placed under legal surveillance. Mathieu Ruffini, was also charged with money laundering in 2023. He was authorised to go back to his Italy, his home country, with bail fixed at €200,000. France issued arrest warrant for Frongia, but in 2020 the court of Bologna decided to block his extradition.
Mathieu Ruffini has previously told the judge in charge of the investigation that his father used him as a prête nom (straw man) and that he was “not aware of his father’s business”. But the prosecution says that his name did appear in certain transactions and he accumulated wealth and assets including part of a building in Parma and the family's estate. In 2021, he received €2.3m from his father, coming from the proceeds of the sale of the so-called Frans Hals portrait. He is also accused of having made payments to Lino Frongia of up to $740,000, €100,000 and possibly £618,000, through Swiss accounts.
Nevertheless, the prosecution has agreed to dismiss the charges related to 18 other paintings for various motives including statute of limitations, lack of forensic examination and insufficient evidence against Ruffini. These works include a painting of St Gerome sold by Sotheby’s before being exhibited at the Met as a work by Parmigianino. “Although there is no doubt that it is a fake, given the presence of modern pigments,” Radafshar and Frochot say.
All parties were approached by The Art Newspaper for comment. The Ruffinis' lawyer, Paul Le Fèvre, stated: “Excluding 18 works, dropping gang fraud charges, all this underlines the fragility of this inflated proceeding." He added that his clients “maintain their complete innocence".
