Image: (APA/BARBARA GINDL)
As the ORF reports online and on the radio, further investigations have now been ordered after the project report submitted by the public prosecutor at the end of December. The authority initiated the procedure because the initial suspicion of serious fraud had been confirmed.
The higher authorities – the project report went to the senior public prosecutor’s office and then to the Ministry of Justice – apparently did not agree with the planned project. “Further investigations have been initiated,” a spokeswoman for the public prosecutor’s office confirmed to Radio Vienna. These are currently running, the spokeswoman did not want to say more about it. It is still unclear whether Heller will be charged or whether the preliminary investigation will be terminated.
According to a “Falter” research last autumn, Heller made a frame out of broomsticks and nails and finally issued and sold it as a work by the US artist Basquiat. According to Heller, just a “prank”. At that time, the Viennese artist manager Amir Shariat first bought the real Basquiat drawing for a customer, while the frame went back to Heller – until the customer bought the fake frame in 2018, according to “Falter” for 800,000 euros. Heller has since bought the frame back. Heller’s lawyer Thomas Höhne had denied the intention to defraud in the fall. The frame was sold as a frame with Basquiat drawings on it.
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I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
