A former Miami art gallery owner who admitted selling counterfeit Andy Warhol artworks was sentenced to nearly four years in federal prison after failing to appear for his original sentencing hearing, prompting concerns from his attorney that he might have suffered a medical emergency or attempted to take his own life.
Leslie Howard Roberts, the former owner of Miami Fine Art Gallery in Coconut Grove, appeared before U.S. District Judge Roy K. Altman on Oct. 2 and received a 46-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in a scheme involving approximately $2.58 million in fraudulent art sales.
According to a Sept. 25 report by Law360, Roberts’ attorney, Jason Wandner, told the judge that his client had last contacted him from an Uber on his way to the Miami federal courthouse. Roberts never arrived, and subsequent attempts to reach him were unsuccessful. Wandner, citing his client’s heart condition, raised the possibility that Roberts had suffered a medical emergency or attempted to take his own life because of the prospect of being taken into custody…