BEVERLY HILLS—On Tuesday, April 22, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California issued a press release announcing the indictment of Glenn Steven Bednarsh, 58, from Farmington, Michigan, but formerly a resident of Beverly Hills for conspiracy to sell a stolen Andy Warhol print trial proof.
According to the press release, the proof was shipped from his Beverly Hills office to an auction site in Dallas, Texas, and then lied about it.
The following information came directly from the press release.
“Glenn Steven Bednarsh, 58, of Farmington, Michigan and formerly of Beverly Hills, is charged in a two-count federal grand jury indictment with conspiracy and interstate transportation of stolen goods.
He is expected to be arraigned in the coming weeks in United States District Court in downtown Los Angeles.
According to the indictment, in February 2021. Bednarsh, knowingly purchased for $6,000 a stolen Warhol trial proof depicting Russian revolutionary and Soviet Union leader Vladimir Lenin, which is worth an estimated $175,000.
Bednarsh allegedly asked a co-conspirator, Brian Alec Light, 58, of Hudson, Ohio, and formerly a resident of downtown Los Angeles, to help him sell the stolen Warhol Lenin trial proof. Light then contacted the Beverly Hills office of an auction house based in Dallas about selling the Warhol trial proof.
In March 2021, Bednarsh transported the trial proof to the Beverly Hills office of the auction house, which then shipped it to Dallas. Light e-signed an auction house consignment agreement and called the auction house to state he had dropped off the trial proof and to ask about receiving a cash advance for it.
An employee of the auction house in Dallas reached out to the gallery in West Hollywood for its opinion of the piece, according to court documents. The gallery immediately recognized the piece as stolen, then notified the auction house and the FBI.
Later in March 2021, when FBI agents began inquiring about the stolen Warhol trial proof, Light lied to them by saying he bought it at a Culver City garage sale for $18,000 and provided a fake receipt.
In August and September of 2021, Bednarsh lied to FBI agents by telling them Light asked him to store the Warhol Lenin trial proof for him and that he agreed to do so out of friendship and not for financial gain.”
In November 2024, Light pleaded guilty to one count of interstate transportation of stolen goods. His sentencing date is scheduled for May 27. He faces up to 10 years in federal prison.
There is a Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Andy Warhol an American visual artist, film director, and producer, and a leader in what is known today as pop art.
The yellow sculpture of Andy Warhol was created by sculptor Jack Dowd.
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