Fairfield County resident Nicholas Hatch of Wilton was sentenced to 14 months in prison for selling counterfeit works of art purported to have been painted by artist Peter Max, the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut announced on Wednesday, April 17.
According to federal officials, Hatch had been the owner of Norwalk-based estate sales company Hatch Estate Services LLC. Between April 2020 and January 2022, Hatch used several websites, including Estatesales.org, to list paintings that he said had been created by Max.
However, Hatch knew the paintings were not authentic and would use multiple aliases to interact with buyers and tell them the art was genuine. He even gave certificates of the paintings’ authenticity.
Throughout the scheme, Hatch sold 145 fraudulent Peter Max paintings and defrauded 43 buyers out of $248,600. In addition to his sentence, Hatch was ordered to make full restitution of this amount.
He will also be required to serve three years of supervised release once his sentence is complete.
Hatch will report to prison on Monday, June 17.
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