From the Agreed Statement of Facts – Appendix “A”, in HIS MAJESTY THE KING v DAVID VOSS

The David Voss Guilty Plea of June 4 2024 – Agreed Statement of Facts – HIS MAJESTY THE KING v DAVID VOSS | Superior Court of Justice | Indictment No. CR-23-0043-00

OVERVIEW

• The following facts are presented by the Crown upon the plea of guilty by David VOSS to counts of forgery and uttering forged documents in relation to an art fraud scheme he operated in Thunder Bay, Ontario, between 1996 and 2019.
• The charges are Counts 1 and 2, respectively, in a Direct Indictment dated March 8, 2023, which followed VOSS’s arrest on March 1, 2023.
• The forgery count encompasses the creation of thousands of fake paintings falsely attributed to Norval MORRISSEAU between January 1, 1996, and the mid-2010s.
• The uttering forged documents count relates to steps taken up to, and including, the sale of the forged artwork to purchasers across Canada and elsewhere.
• Many of these fake artworks were subsequently re-sold to third parties and remain in the public domain.

THE FORGERIES – PRODUCTION

From 1996 onwards, David VOSS oversaw the production and distribution of thousands of forged artworks falsely attributed to Norval MORRISSEAU (the “VOSS Ring Forgeries”). Over 1500 VOSS Ring Forgeries have been identified to date, with 493 of those forgeries having been seized by investigators. The VOSS Ring Forgeries identified to date are listed in Appendix “A” to this Agreed Statement of Fact. An unknown number of VOSS Ring Forgeries remain in circulation.

THE FORGERIES – DISTRIBUTION

The forgeries were consigned or sold by VOSS to distributors and auction houses across Canada, where they were purchased by unsuspecting members of the public. VOSS represented to purchasers and distributors that he obtained the artwork directly or indirectly from Norval MORRISSEAU. Those representations took the form of one or more of the following:

• a. Signing and/or directing that the artwork be signed with the Cree-syllabic signature identified with Norval MORRISSEAU.
• b. Signing and/or directing that the artwork be signed or initialed with an English-language signature or initials purported to be those of Norval MORRISSEAU.
• c. Sanding or rubbing carbon paper on the canvases to make the paintings appear old.
• d. Representing to purchasers and distributors that the artwork was created by Norval MORRISSEAU and that he (VOSS) obtained the artwork directly or indirectly from Norval MORRISSEAU.
• e. When VOSS’ distributors sought further assurances regarding the artworks’ authenticity, VOSS provided numerous false sworn and unsworn representations to that effect, knowing that those representations would be relied upon by the distributors, and, in turn, the public.

Video clips from “There Are No Fakes” regarding David Voss