HARRISBURG, Pa. — A couple in Hawaii is facing wire fraud and money laundering charges stemming from a worldwide counterfeit art scheme.
The United States Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced the unsealing of an indictment charging Earl Marshawn Washington, 60, and his wife, Zsanett Nagy, 31, who both live in Honolulu, HI with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering.
In addition, Washington has separately been charged with bank fraud and conspiracy to commit bank fraud.
According to United States Attorney General Gerard M. Karam, the indictment alleges that between 2018 to 2021, Washington and Nagy sold counterfeit artistic goods known as "woodblocks" or "woodcuts" to buyers and then laundered the money.
Xylography is the art of making woodcuts or engravings made from wooden blocks.
In traditional xylography, an artist uses a sharpened tool to carve a design into the surface of a woodblock. The raised areas that remain after the block has been cut are inked and printed, while the remaining area that is cut away does not retain ink and will remain blank in the final print.
The technique has been used in different geographic regions at different times. One woodblock tradition stems from Germany starting around the 14th century and continuing for several hundred years.
The indictment alleges that Washington and Nagy sold inauthentic woodblocks and prints made from woodblocks that they alleged as being from the 15th and early 20th centuries.
The buyers include a pair of woodblock collectors living in France, as well as a buyer who then lived in Hummelstown.
The buyers of the woodblock in France allegedly made $84,350.91 in PayPal payments to Nagy before learning that the woodblocks they purchased were not from the 15th and 16th centuries, as they were promised.
According to the indictment, Nagy got the payments through Paypal, moved it to a bank account under her name and then quickly converted the money to cash through withdrawals of several thousand dollars at the time.
It is alleged that Washington admitted to one of the French buyers as being the creator of the woodblocks sold.
Washington is also charged with defrauding a collector in York.
The indictment alleges the collector paid Washington $118,810 from 2013 to 2016 in exchange for 130 woodblocks that were advertised as several centuries old. According to reports, at least some of these woodblocks were made in the second half of the 20th century.
“If you promise people one thing and sell them another, that’s fraud, plain and simple,” said Jacqueline Maguire, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia Division. “Here we had collectors paying for what they believed were old, rare, and valuable woodblocks and prints, but what they allegedly received were none of the above."
The indictment contains forfeiture allegations seeking over $200,000 from Washington and Nagy collectively, which is allegedly the amount they received from buyers for their counterfeit goods.
The maximum penalty under federal law for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, mail fraud, and money laundering is five years in prison, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a fine.
The maximum penalty under federal law for wire fraud is 20 years in prison, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a fine. In addition, Washington faces a maximum penalty under federal law for conspiracy to commit bank fraud and bank fraud of 30 years in prison, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a fine.
