About three years ago, Los Angeles art dealer Tatiana Khan sold a 1902 pastel by Pablo Picasso for $2 million. She told the buyer it had come from the family of famed publisher Malcolm Forbes and was in fact worth far more.
Only problem was the painting was a fake. In fact, federal authorities say Khan paid an art restorer $1,000 to paint a copy of the painting called “La Femme au Chapeau Bleu,” or “The Woman in the Blue Hat.”
Now, the 70-year-old from West Hollywood could be off to prison.
Khan agreed Tuesday to plead guilty to making false statements to the FBI and witness tampering, according to a guilty plea agreement filed in U.S. District Court. The plea agreement calls for a prison sentence of no more than 21 months. She is scheduled to enter a plea on May 6.
Under the agreement, Khan will make full restitution to the buyer in question and forfeit to the government a $725,000 artwork by abstract expressionist Willem de Kooning, which she purchased with some money from the fake Picasso sale.
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