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The lawsuit said it "unwittingly staked its reputation" on the "now admittedly fake paintings."

An Orlando museum is suing its former director over what turned out to be forged Jean-Michel Basquiat paintings.

A Florida art museum has filed a lawsuit more than a year after it mounted an exhibition of paintings by the late artist Jean-Michel Basquiat that federal investigators determined to be fake. The Orlando Museum of Art said it is suing the people behind the exhibition "Heroes & Monsters," which purportedly featured never-before-seen works by Basquiat. The FBI seized more than two dozen paintings in the show in June 2022 amid a conspiracy and wire fraud investigation in connection with the artwork

The Orlando Museum of Art has filed a lawsuit against its former CEO, a California-based auctioneer, and a host of others following the museum's scandal in which apparent paintings by famed artist Jean-Michel Basquiat – now deemed to be fake – were showcased at the museum, which ultimately led to an FBI raid at the museum in 2022.

The lawsuit claims that De Groft was persuaded to join in the “conspiracy” by promising De Groft a “significant cut of the proceeds of the anticipated multimillion-dollar sale.”