Germany charges five over false Giacometti sculptures

A court in Germany sent four men and a woman for trial for having allegedly tried to sell more than a thousand fake Giacometti sculptures, the prosecutors office in Stuttgart said Thursday.

The suspects were arrested in August 2009 with the sculptures, falsely attributed to the Swiss artist Alberto Giacometti.

Prosecutors alleged they were trying to sell them for more than nine million euros (11.5 million dollars) in Germany and abroad.

One of the accused, a 59-year-old man, claimed to have obtained the works a secret collection owned by Diego Giacometti, the artist’s younger brother, the prosecution said.

A 62-year-old art dealer, thought to be the gang’s leader, was convicted in February for having certified several fakes that were sold as Giacomettis in 2000 and 2001.

The five suspects face up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

In February a Giacometti sculpture, “L’homme qui marche I”, established a new world record at an auction in London, going for 65 million pounds (74.2 million euros or 104.3 million dollars).