Second accused in Norval Morrisseau art fraud ring pleads guilty

A second man accused of operating an art fraud ring to sell fraudulent paintings attributed to world-renowned Indigenous artist Norval Morrisseau has pleaded guilty to two charges.

David Voss, 52, of Thunder Bay, appeared before Judge Bonnie Warkentin on Tuesday, where he pleaded guilty to one count of forgery and one count of uttering a forged document.

Voss was one of eight people charged in March 2023 following an investigation by the Thunder Bay Police Service and the Ontario Provincial Police first launched in 2020.

Considered to be one of the largest art fraud rings in the world, investigators said at the time that more than 1,000 alleged Morrisseau forgeries had been seized and there were believed to be between 4,500 and 6,000 forgeries created by several art fraud groups .

Morrisseau, also known as Copper Thunderbird, was from the Bingwi Neyaashi Anishinaabek First Nation. He gained international recognition for founding the Woodlands School of Art, and his work has been exhibited in galleries in Canada, the United States and Europe.

In 1978, Morrisseau received the Order of Canada. He passed away in 2007.

Gary Lamont, who was responsible for one of the art fraud rings, has since pleaded guilty to one count of forgery and one count of defrauding the public over $5,000.

Lamont oversaw the production of 190 Morrisseau fakes and was sentenced last December to five years in prison. He also pleaded guilty to several unrelated sexual assault charges.

The other people charged by police in the investigation include Benjamin Morrisseau, 53, Diane Marie Champagne, 63, Linda Tkachyk, 59, all of Thunder Bay, and Jeffrey Cowan, 47, of Niagara-on-the- the-Lake, James White, 81, of Essa Township, and David Bremner, 75, of Locust Hill.

All charges against Tkachyk were dropped following Lamont’s guilty plea. A hearing for Benjamin Morrisseau was held earlier this year and the matter will return next October to set a date for a possible resolution.

According to an agreed statement of facts read into the record Tuesday, between 1996 and 2019, Voss produced or oversaw the production of between 1,500 and 2,000 fake Morrisseau paintings.

He also oversaw the distribution of fraudulent works to galleries who in turn sold them to third-party buyers. Hundreds of fake paintings have been seized by police, but an unknown number are still considered outstanding.

The court heard that Voss draws the outlines of the works using the pencil and then adds a letter system or “paint by numbers” for the colors that will be used to fill in the spaces and complete the works.

Many of the Voss ring paintings have been determined to be forgeries by detecting carbon markings under the paint consistent with pencil to complement the underlying drawings and indicate the colors to be used.

Voss would also sign Morrisseau’s name using Anishinaabek syllables, as he was known to do throughout his career.

The fraudulent paintings were sold to dealers and galleries in Thunder Bay, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Alberta.

The paintings were then sold to third party buyers. The prices of the paintings sold ranged from $1,200 to $30,000.

A pair of buyers purchased seven fake paintings for a total of $110,000 in 2007.

A southern Ontario distributor would take a 30% commission on any painting sold, while Voss received the balance of the proceeds.

Other forgeries created by the Voss ring were exhibited during exhibitions in Canada.

An explanation offered by Voss for how he came into possession of the Morrisseau works included receiving them from his father, who he claimed was a warden at the Kenora County Jail for a short time, Morrisseau was incarcerated there in the 1970s.

But Voss’ father never worked as a security guard in Kenora, and Voss never received original Morrisseau paintings.

The matter was adjourned to September 5 for sentencing.