8. Damien Hirst And The Great Spin Swindle
A self-proclaimed US pastor was given a six-month jail sentence for attempting to sell fake Damien Hirst spin paintings. He was arrested after he tried to sell the work to an undercover policeman. Kevin Sutherland, of the Mosaic Miami Church in Florida, bought five Hirst’s on eBay which also included two of his spot paintings. After taking them to Sotheby’s in 2013, where they were turned down, he proposed a fire-sale price to the investigator. The 46-year-old attempted to appeal the sentence of six months in jail and five years probation. At the time the forger’s solicitor, Sam Talkin, portrayed the crime as “an isolated detour from an otherwise law-abiding life”. But prosecutors argued Sutherland not only tried to rid himself of paintings he knew were forged, but tried to sell them at a profit. Read our article here