Art Broker Gets 2 Years in Sale of Fake Renoir
An independent art broker who tried to sell a fake Renoir to an undercover police officer posing as a Japanese businessman has been sentenced to two years in state prison, prosecutors said Friday.
Frank de Marigny, 38, of Manhattan Beach, was sentenced Thursday by Superior Court Judge Michael Harwin, who could have sentenced him to up to seven years and eight months.
De Marigny, a French national, pleaded no contest in June to two counts of grand theft, five counts of forgery and one count of perjury. He was arrested in September, 1989, when he tried to sell a fake Renoir, entitled “Young Girl With Daisies,” for $3.2 million.
De Marigny, also known as Frank Orval, lived in a posh beach home and was known to art insiders as “Prince Frank.” His arrest touched off police raids of Upstairs Gallery art store outlets throughout the area, and Costa Mesa, and the seizure of hundreds of pieces of suspected fraudulent art.
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