More prints added to art fraud investigation

Iqaluit RCMP are in the process of correlating the 200 prints seized this month in an art fraud investigation with the artists believed to have created the works.

Const. Alex Lyon confiscated 200 prints from Iqaluit art dealer Ray Lovell. The prints are believed to have been stolen from Nunavut Arctic College a year and a half ago.

Lovell bought the works from a well-known artist who passed them off as his own or said he was selling them on behalf of another artist.

Lyon said last week he had acquired another 17 prints to add to the investigation.

Arctic College instructors have been examining the seized prints and identifying artists who may have created the works. Police now have to contact former Arctic College students to have them identify their works.

Police have a suspect in mind, Lyon said, however an arrest has not yet been made.