Ep 152.1: Art World's Greatest Con Man: How Ken Sold Fake Art For Millions & Escaped the Mafia & FBI!

About this episode

The episode explores the life of Ken Perenyi, a notorious art forger who evaded law enforcement while selling fake art for millions.

Would you break the law if it made you a multimillionaire? That’s what happened with Ken Perenyi - one of the most “successful” art forgers in the world. His works have been sold all over the world, including in Christie’s and Sotheby’s, with one painting going for as high as $717,000! He was also close friends with Roy Cohn - the notorious lawyer who helped Trump enter the New York market. The Independent called him the evil master architect who mentored Donald Trump (to Ken, he was just a great friend and protector). Was hunted for decades by the Mafia and the FBI. And got away with it all without even a slap on the wrist. When the statute of limitation passed for his “crimes”, Ken then published a book telling everyone exactly how he did it. 😂 (Talk about giving everyone the finger!!) And lest you wonder whether that’s all there is to Ken’s story, believe me. It is not. Ken’s childhood was spent hanging out with Tony, an influential Mafia member, who introduced him to the world of fine art. He was so enamoured with art that he taught himself to paint. To crack the paintings and mimic the black spots that flies would leave on very, very old paintings. He was also neighbours…

People in this episode

Host: Ling Yah

Guest: Ken Perenyi

Topics covered

• art forgery
• crime
• Mafia
• FBI
• multimillionaire
• self-taught artist

Keywords

• art forgery
• Ken Perenyi
• Mafia
• FBI
• multimillionaire
• Christie's
• Sotheby's
• self-taught artist
• Roy Cohn
• Donald Trump

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Christie’s, Sotheby’s

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