Yesterday, the Orlando Museum of Art (Website) and the De Groft family both filed a Joint Stipulation of Dismissal of the lawsuit pending between the museum and former director Aaron De Groft.
The museum and its board filed a lawsuit against De Groft, accusing him and the five co-owners of the now infamous fake Basquiat paintings, of attempting to profit by exhibiting works falsely associated with the famous Brooklyn artist. At the time, De Groft et al claimed that the paintings were recovered from a Los Angeles storage unit, after being placed there back in 1982 when Basquiat was living in the area.
The lawsuit was first reported by Brett Sokol and Matt Stevens for The New York Times, where they shared a statement from the museum claiming that De Groft was promised a “significant cut of the proceeds” from the eventual sale of the artworks in exchange for exhibiting and therefore legitimizing the pieces.
De Groft told the Times that he “categorically denied” the accusations in the lawsuit and that any offer of a kickback was meant for the museum to help pay for the exhibition, not for his personal use.
The museum’s suit accused De Groft of conspiracy, breach of fiduciary duty, and fraud.
Aaron De Groft died on January 18 of this year, and in light of that, both parties agreed it would be best to discontinue the litigation.
wow