ART FAKE DEALER KENNEDY, FIGURE IN 2005 MILWAUKEE CASE, ARRESTED ON FEDERAL CHARGES IN FLORIDA

[UPDATE -- Thursday, March 21st, 2008: The Feds have dropped another charge against Kennedy, this time accusing him of forging signatures of artists on fakes. Bloomberg News reports Kennedy was among 7 charged in two international schemes that netted over $5 million for the defendants. He is charged in U.S. District Court in Chicago in Case 08CR009. Milwaukeeworld will issue a complete report in a later post. --Ed.]


By Michael Horne

James F. Kennedy, the Illinois con man convicted on four misdemeanor counts of "Forgery, alter value of object" in 2005 in Milwaukee County Case 2004CF002697, was arrested by the United States Postal Inspection Service authorities in Jacksonville Florida last week, according to a report this morning in the Florida Times-Union.
Kennedy's arrest on January 25th, 2008, was on a federal warrant filed in Chicago. Kennedy, 55, of Northbrook, Il., was charged with "violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1513(b)(2)" on January 29th. He faced a Removal Hearing on January 30th, 2008 before Magistrate Judge Howard T. Snyder, and was ordered returned to Illinois. According to U. S. Code, it appears Kennedy is alleged to have knowingly engaged in conduct that either caused injury or damage to property -- or threatened to do so -- with intent to retaliate against another. There is also a little business in the law about violating parole and messing with a law enforcement investigation. The Times-Union report quotes Jacksonville FBI spokesperson Jeff Westcott as saying Kennedy's retaliation was against a witness in a larger art fraud investigation by the United Staates Postal Inspector Service and the FBI.
The felony charge has a penalty of 10 years imprisonment.
Milwaukeeworld first reported on Kennedy on May 17th, 2004, when he spent his birthday in the Milwaukee County Jail jail facing felony charges after he tried to peddle fake Picassos and Matisse prints to Milwaukee art dealer Bill DeLind. In March, 2005 -- two months after his sentencing -- Milwaukeeworld reported that Kennedy had turned his fake business to the internet. Since then, Milwaukeeworld has heard from numerous individuals who read the reports on Kennedy here. They were evenly split between those who read them on time; and those who read them too late.
Meanwhile, Kennedy was always one step ahead of the authorities. His modus operandi, at least at the time of his arrest, was to follow antique shows in the south, inquiring at the last moment if any booths were available, due to cancellations or whatnot. This gave him access to a marketplace without advertising or otherwise publicizing his presence.
Finally, for the fourth and hopefully last year, milwaukeeworld would like to hear from you if you have fallen victim to Kennedy's schemes. horne.milwaukeeworld at gmail.com . 1 414 978-8039.

A Note on Sources:
Milwaukeeworld was notified of Kennedy's arrest Monday by a reader in Florida. We immediately began researching the story, and received supplemental anecdotal information from others who had heard of the arrest. We then contacted official sources for confirmation, and would like to acknowledge the Federal Bureau of Investigation Jacksonville Field Office; the United States Postal Inspection Service; The United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida the United States Attorney' for the Middle District of Florida. None of them were of any assistance whatsoever. Jeff Farkas, of American Conservators, the firm that testified on the 2004 fakes in Milwaukee County, jumped in to help as soon as he heard about the supposed arrest. As he told the Florida paper today, "We keep track of this guy." The Kennedy file finally appeared on the U.S. Courts Case Management / Electronic Case Filing site this morning, where it is listed as 3:08-mj-01017-HTS-1. --Ed.

[Update Saturday, February 2nd, 2008-- The Chicago Sun-Times reports on the FBI seizure of art from that city's Kass / Meridian Galleries yesterday in its coverage of the Kennedy case today. The article does not comment on any possible link between the cases, and the details of the charges against Kennedy remain secret, so we're not going to learn anything there. However, the gallery's works, including a patently fake Picasso, include items similar to those Kennedy sold to his customers. There are very, very few authentic Picasso, Matisse, Miro, Dali --you name it -- prints out there, at least in your price range, and you can find fakes even in brick-and-mortar galleries. As Milwaukeeworld keeps telling you, this is no business for neophytes. -- Ed.]