Dealer Pleads Not Guilty in Big Art Fraud Case

A Hollywood man accused of selling allegedly fake Marc Chagall and Joan Miro lithographs to the Upstairs Gallery chain pleaded not guilty Monday to a grand theft charge stemming from a massive art fraud investigation by Los Angeles police.

Laurence Groeger, 39, one of the leading West Coast wholesalers of popular prints, was arrested in June after a 1989 police search of his home turned up what investigators described as records showing that he had supplied “fraudulent” artworks to the Upstairs Gallery stores. He has been free on $1,500 bail since his arrest.

Groeger, who ran his Collections Fine Art out of his home, is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Dec. 10.