Three Indicted for Fraud in Connection with Counterfeit Art Sales Defendants Charged with Selling Counterfeit Clementine Hunter Paintings

ALEXANDRIA, LA—Three individuals were indicted by a federal grand jury for selling non-authentic paintings falsely attributed to Clementine Hunter, Acting United States Attorney William J. Flanagan announced today.

WILLIAM TOYE, age 78, of Baton Rouge; BERYL ANN TOYE, age 68, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and ROBERT E. LUCKY, JR., age 62, of New Orleans, Louisiana, were named in a four-count indictment which charges all three defendants with mail fraud and conspiracy to commit mail fraud.

Clementine Hunter was an African-American folk artist who lived in Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana. Ms. Hunter began painting in the late 1930's and continued to paint until a few days before her death on January 1, 1988. The value of Ms. Hunter's paintings vary and are actively sold on the open art market.