Genoa – Five convictions and one acquittal are requested in the trial on the alleged fake paintings by Modigliani seized in 2017 by the Genoa prosecutor’s office while they were on display in the Doge’s Palace. In particular, the deputy prosecutor Paolo D’Ovidio has asked for a six-year sentence for Rudy Chiappini, curator of the exhibition, and five years for Joseph Guttmann, owner of most of the paintings deemed fake. And then eight months for Nicolò Sponsilli, director of the Skira company who organized the event, and for Rosa Fasan, an employee of the company, six months for Pietro Pedrazzini, a Swiss sculptor, owner of a “Portrait of Chaim Soutine” which according to the investigators he placed as authentic despite knowing it to be false.
Absolution requested for Massimo Zelman, president of Mondo Mostre Skira. According to investigators, through exposure to the exhibition they wanted to pass off false works as authentic to resell them at stellar prices on the centenary of Modì’s death. It was the art critic and Modigliani expert Carlo Pepi who raised the doubts about the paintings. For the defendants’ lawyers, however, the works are authentic.
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