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Leslie "Les" Roberts: The Art Dealer Who Just Kept Faking It
A long history of fraud, forged art, and reinvented galleries now intersects with the FBI investigation surrounding Dane Fine Art. For Leslie “Les” Roberts, the art business has apparently never been short on drama. Roberts built a career selling works by some of the biggest names in modern and contemporary art. He also built a remarkably persistent relationship with the criminal justice system. His history includes financial fraud, forged artwork, fake certificates of authenticity, and repeated lawsuits from collectors. His first major fraud case came long before Warhol entered the picture. In his early twenties, Roberts worked as a stockbroker and managed an investment portfolio belonging to his great-uncle. According to The New York Times, Roberts made unauthorized transactions and convinced his uncle that an account worth millions had actually grown enormously when it had instead lost most of its value. He pleaded guilty to mail fraud and conspiracy and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Years later, Roberts reinvented himself as an art dealer in Miami. His résumé included claims of studying at NYU and interning at Sotheby's; NYU later told Miami New Times that it had no record of Roberts attending the university. The art-world reinvention eventually produced another FBI case. Roberts operated Max in the Grove, presenting himself as a dealer specializing in Peter Max. Former FBI agent Robert Giczy became involved after a collector discovered that 13 of 17 Peter Max works, valued at approximately $635,000, appeared to have been replaced with fakes. Investigators eventually recovered more than 300 forged Max works. According to Giczy, Roberts's children helped produce the counterfeits, while fake certificates of authenticity were manufactured at the gallery. Roberts eventually pleaded guilty to mail fraud and was sentenced in 2015 to 22 months in prison. Then came Andy Warhol. In 2023, Florida collectors Richard and Judy Perlman encountered Roberts at his Miami gallery. According to their lawsuit, he told them he had a relationship with the Andy Warhol Foundation and could acquire works at below-market prices. The Perlmans ultimately say they spent more than $6.7 million on works represented as authentic Warhols. They later alleged that the works were forged. Federal prosecutors separately indicted Roberts in 2025, alleging that he sold forged Warhol works while falsely claiming that he had acquired them directly from the Warhol Foundation and supplied fraudulent invoices and authentication materials. Roberts later pleaded guilty to art-related wire fraud and is awaiting sentencing. And this is where the story connects directly to Dane Fine Art. The Perlmans' new lawsuit alleges that Roberts wasn't operating alone. It names Nathan “Nicky” Isen and his Pennsylvania gallery, Dane Fine Art, as part of an alleged pipeline supplying forged Warhol works. According to the complaint, Dane Fine Art supplied works and documentation that eventually reached Roberts's Miami operation, with the alleged network extending from Pennsylvania to Florida and Peru. Isen categorically denies wrongdoing and any connection to the alleged conspiracy. The timing is particularly interesting. The FBI searched Dane Fine Art in July 2026, describing the operation only as “court-authorized law enforcement activity.” The bureau has not publicly confirmed that the search was connected to the Perlman lawsuit. Isen, meanwhile, has his own history with federal authorities. He pleaded guilty in 2015 to money laundering after selling artwork for cash he understood to be proceeds from drug sales. He subsequently operated his Philadelphia gallery under the Dane Fine Art name. So Roberts and Dane Fine Art aren't simply two names that happen to appear in the same lawsuit. The current allegations describe something more interesting: a supply chain. One dealer allegedly provides the inventory, another provides the storefront and collectors, and authentication paperwork helps turn questionable objects into apparently legitimate works of art. That's what makes the current case worth watching. Roberts has already demonstrated how convincing a fake can become when it is surrounded by the right gallery, the right paperwork, and the right story. Now investigators are looking at whether some of the machinery behind that operation extended to Pennsylvania. For the moment, however, the allegations against Isen and Dane Fine Art remain just that—allegations. No charges have been announced against Isen in connection with the FBI searches, and he has denied wrongdoing. Still, there is something almost perfectly circular about the story: a dealer with a long history of art fraud allegedly finds another dealer willing to supply the merchandise, and the FBI eventually comes knocking on the supplier's door. Hot Tip: If you're art dealer looks too much Like WWE's Paul Bearer...RUN!
