75-year-old Portland art forger sentenced to federal prison

A Portland art forger who sold knockoff paintings imitating well-respected artists was sentenced Tuesday to one year and one day in federal prison.

Lawrence H. Ulvi, 75, was charged with defrauding at least 12 victims, including art dealers in California and Washington, and causing a financial loss of at least $66,232 since 2008.

Ulvi, a local artist and photographer, offered fake paintings for sale in the style of major artists of the Northwest School art movement, including Mark Tobey, Morris Graves and Kenneth Callahan.

Ulvi, according to federal prosecutors, identified and targeted unsuspecting purchasers using his knowledge of fine art sales and his own artistic expertise to create fake paintings, particularly in Tobey's "abstract expressionism'' style.

Ulvi's fraud not only caused financial losses to his victims, but he stole "a confidence in the authenticity of works by these artists in the art marketplace,''  Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Erik Asphaug wrote in a sentencing memo.

"He has completely destroyed for generations the authenticity of one man's work,'' Asphaug said.

The government urged Ulvi be sentenced to a year and a half in prison, and be ordered to pay $66,234 in restitution to his victims.

Ulvi's attorney, Alison M. Clark, pleaded with the judge to spare her client a prison sentence and instead have him serve probation with home confinement. She called the government's assessment of losses due to Ulvi's actions "overblown,'' saying her client hasn't lived in luxury, and in fact, lives in a Portland apartment, eats fast food daily and visits a senior center.

"This was a flim-flam and a fraud,'' Clark said, "but it didn't create enough of a financial harm.''

Clark called a prison sentence a "tremendous punishment'' that far exceeds what's necessary, citing Ulvi's pulmonary disease and other ailments.

Yet U.S. District Judge Robert E. Jones decided the case warranted prison, noting the fraud was continuous and "without regard to any victims.''

"You knew what you were doing. There's no question you have depreciated the value of valued artists,'' Jones said.

Jones added that prison will provide a more balanced diet for Ulvi and suggested he could continue his art work in the art department of the federal prison in Sheridan. "They would welcome your talent,'' the judge said, offering to visit him. "You can keep your brushes and stuff.''

Ulvi's lawyer objected. Ulvi is unlikely to be sent to the prison in Sheridan because of his health ailments and unlikely to be able to keep his art brushes in custody. "I submit that is a too high penalty,'' Clark said.

Ulvi, standing and leaning on a cane, told the judge, "I can't breathe in enclosed spaces.'' He also said some of the art galleries that he sold the paintings to never paid him, adding that a check from one bounced.

Jones didn't budge.

"You did the crime. It's an old cliché - You deserve the time,'' the judge ruled. "I'm sorry about your ill health. Your sentence is appropriate. It's their responsibility to take care of your health, it's not mine.''

Ulvi's undoing began in the fall of 2011, when he answered the advertisement of a Seattle art dealer looking for Tobey paintings.

"Tobey's works are highly sought after by international dealers and collectors," FBI Special Agent Travis Welter wrote in a criminal complaint affidavit.

The art dealer bought one abstract painting and six "market sketches" -- drawn or painted street scenes of Seattle -- from Ulvi. To ensure authenticity of the painting, the dealer submitted a digital photograph of the work to the Committee Mark Tobey, a group of experts who maintain an archive of the painter's works and life.

Based on the digital image, Dr. Heiner Hachmeister, a member of the committee and a recognized expert on Tobey's work, issued a written letter of authentication for the painting. But later, when the art dealer mailed Hachmeister the painting for authentication, he determined it was a fake, according to the FBI affidavit.

The maximum sentence in the case was 20 years in prison.

Sentencing Ulvi to one day over a year will allow him to have his sentence reduced for good time to about 10 months.

Resource: http://www.oregonlive.com