Matthew Taylor, 33 was found guilty Tuesday of selling and possessing stolen art as well as income tax evasion, and wire fraud.
Two paintings went missing from an East LA gallery. One impressionist landscape painting by Granville Redmond and another by Lucien Frank. Taylor tried to sell the Frank painting to a customer after painting over the original artist’s signature and trying to pass it off for another artist’s work.
Charges that Taylor had sold more than $2 million in art he falsely represented by artists including Claude Money and Jackson Pollock, were dropped prior to the trial.
Taylor was convicted also of failing to pay taxes on $1.4 million earned in 2005-2006.