The Orlando Museum of Art (OMA) announced this week it has dropped pending lawsuits with the family of Aaron De Groft, who served as the director and chief executive when the museum became embroiled in a scandal over the authenticity of works in a Jean-Michel Basquiat exhibition.
De Groft died last month at age 59, after a brief illness. After his death, “the parties did not think it prudent or cost effective to continue with this litigation”, a museum spokesperson said in a statement Monday (24 February).
De Groft was fired by OMA in 2022, shortly after FBI agents raided the museum and seized 25 paintings purportedly by Basquiat, part of the exhibition Heroes & Monsters: Jean-Michel Basquiat, The Thaddeus Mumford, Jr. Venice Collection.
A “highly unlikely” backstory
De Groft believed Basquiat created the works featured in the show in 1982—the year many experts consider his best artistically—while the artist lived and worked at the Venice, California home of the influential art dealer Larry Gagosian. As the story goes, Basquiat sold the group of works on cardboard directly to screenwriter Thad Mumford for $5,000. In 2012, Mumford failed to pay a bill on a storage unit and a man named William Force and his financial backers purchased the items in the unit at auction for $15,000.
One of 25 forged Jean-Michel Basquiat works at the centre of the Orlando Museum of Art scandal Court documents
When the OMA's Basquiat exhibition opened in February 2022, some experts were immediately sceptical, including Gagosian himself, who told The New York Times that the idea Basquiat created and sold 25 works without his knowledge while staying at his home “highly unlikely”. But De Groft stood by the works. “My reputation is at stake as well,” he told the Times. “And I’ve absolutely no doubt these are Basquiats.”
OMA fired De Groft in June, two days after the exhibit was raided. In April 2023, the storage locker auctioneer admitted to forging the works. The museum launched a lawsuit against De Groft in summer 2023, alleging fraud, conspiracy, breach of fiduciary duty and breach of contract, seeking unspecified damages. The exhibition cost OMA hundreds of thousands of dollars, the museum claimed in the lawsuit, but said “cleaning up the aftermath created by the defendants has cost OMA even more”.
De Groft countersued the museum for alleged wrongful termination and defamation over the museum’s accusations that he meant to profit from the forgeries. But after his death in January, both the museum and De Groft’s family agreed to pull their respective lawsuits.
“It is OMA’s sincere hope that this step will allow OMA to continue forward with its mission in partnership with its valued constituencies,” the museum's spokesperson added.
