December 14th, 2024

Another man pleads guilty in mass forgery of Norval Morrisseau’s artworks

By The Canadian Press on June 5, 2024.

Another Thunder Bay, Ont., man who oversaw the creation of fake Norval Morrisseau paintings has pleaded guilty to fraud-related charges. Ojibwa artist Norval Morrisseau says he is happy sketching in the streets of Vancouver as he poses in front of one of his earlier paintings at a gallery in Vancouver, B.C., Monday, May 11, 1987. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chuck Stoody

Another Thunder Bay, Ont., man who oversaw the creation of fake Norval Morrisseau paintings has pleaded guilty to fraud-related charges.

David Voss, 52, pleaded guilty Tuesday to one count of forgery and one count of uttering forged documents.

An agreed statement of facts filed with the court says Voss managed the production and distribution of thousands of forged Morrisseau artworks from 1996 to the mid-2010s.

Morrisseau, who died in 2007, was a trailblazer for contemporary Indigenous artists across Canada and had received numerous awards and honours, including the Order of Canada.

Eight people were initially charged last year in the massive art fraud investigation.

One of the fraud ring’s key players, Gary Lamont, pleaded guilty to two charges and was handed a five-year sentence in December.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 5, 2024.

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