US pastor on trial in NYC fake Hirst art case
NEW YORK (AP) — A Miami pastor is on trial in New York on charges of knowingly offering faked works of British art star Damien Hirst to a buyer who was actually an undercover officer.
Deliberations began Monday in Kevin Sutherland's attempted grand larceny trial.
The Manhattan district attorney's office says the 46-year-old Sutherland tried to sell two counterfeit examples of Hirst's circular "spin" paintings and three bogus Hirst "spot" prints for $185,000 even though he'd been told the authenticity of one painting was in question.
Sutherland says an auction house never clearly told him the artworks were fake. He says he didn't ask Hirst's studio to weigh in because its authentication process was pricey.
Sutherland leads a small nondenominational church.
Hirst received Great Britain's best-known art award, the Turner Prize, in 1995.
