Recovered Paintings Turn Out To Be Fake

A Mexican art collector got some good news Wednesday, quickly followed by bad: His stolen artworks had been found - and they were fakes.

Bad ones at that.

“As soon as our agents took them out of the portfolio, both groups immediately said, ‘These are worthless. You’ve got to be kidding,”’ said FBI spokesman Joseph Valiquette.

Avelino Espinosa Gonzalez, an airline passenger from Mexico, told detectives he co-owned the works, which he believed were two Picassos and a Pissarro. He said they were stolen after he left them in storage overnight at the airport.

Jason George, 26, who works for a private company hired to store the paintings at the airport, was arrested along with his brother-in-law, Joseph Casella, 19, who works at a sporting goods store.

The three artworks were recovered, undamaged, in the basement of an apartment building in Long Island City.

Hours after the recovery, several art experts brought in to authenticate the artworks proclaimed them fakes.

Gonzalez brought the two paintings and an ink sketch to New York for appraisal and thought they were worth $13 million, his lawyer said.