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Globe and Mail
14 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
Ontario art dealer Jim White pleads guilty to selling forged Morrisseau artworks
An Ontario art dealer has pleaded guilty to his role in what investigators have called Canada's largest art fraud case, admitting he handled works falsely attributed to the late Anishinaabe painter Norval Morrisseau. Jim White appeared before an Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Newmarket, Ont., on Wednesday and pleaded guilty to uttering forged documents and possessing property obtained by crime for the purpose of trafficking. Through his lawyer, Emily Lam, he declined to comment after the proceeding. Mr. White was one of eight people charged in March, 2023, as part of a 2½-year art fraud investigation that would identify two distinct counterfeiting rings – one based in Thunder Bay, the other in Southern Ontario – responsible for faking thousands of Morrisseaus. Mr. White's precise role is unclear from available court records, but one of the co-accused, David Voss, identified Mr. White as a 'major distributor' of forgeries in court filings last year. Mr. Voss admitted to overseeing 'the production and distribution of thousands of forged artworks falsely attributed to Norval Morrisseau' and claimed that Mr. White 'consigned the forgeries to auction houses and galleries across Canada, where the forgeries were sold to unsuspecting members of the public.' Mr. Voss was handed a five-year prison sentence for his role. Mr. White's sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 7. The Morrisseau investigation launched in 2020, shortly after Jason Rybak, a Thunder Bay Police homicide investigator, watched There Are No Fakes, a TVO documentary that identified many key players in the forgery scheme. McGill believes it has painting falsely attributed to acclaimed artist Norval Morrisseau after investigation Insp. Rybak partnered with the OPP to investigate the film's explosive allegations. In the documentary, Mr. White states that '100 per cent' of his business came from Morrisseaus and that he'd personally dealt with 189 works by the late painter. At one point in the documentary, Mr. White tells filmmaker Jamie Kastner, 'I have never seen a fake, have you?' Insp. Rybak said that statement makes the guilty plea all the more gratifying. 'He was a central figure in the documentary saying there were no fakes and today that has culminated in him admitting that paintings he had in his possession and that he sold were fake,' said Insp. Rybak on Wednesday. Lawyer Jonathan Sommer, who has defended unwitting buyers of Morrisseau fakes and tried in vain for years to get the police involved, said Mr. White played a significant role in denying that any forgeries existed. 'He's been very litigious in all of this,' said Mr. Sommer. 'His position always centred on the idea that there were no fakes.' Once called the Picasso of the North, Mr. Morrisseau died in 2007 having earned a reputation as one greatest artists in the country. His work featured depictions of people and animals in thick black lines, a style that came to be called the Woodland School. In the years before his death, Mr. Morrisseau identified dozens of counterfeit works. But buyers who tried to sue galleries for selling them suspect Morrisseaus ran into legal hurdles trying to prove a painting was a definitive fake. Barenaked Ladies band member Kevin Hearn was one of those plaintiffs. His lawsuit against the gallery that sold him a dubious Morrisseau forms the basis of the documentary. Mr. White intervened in that case. 'To hear [Mr. White] plead guilty to criminal offences is a watershed moment,' said Mr. Sommer, who represented Mr. Hearn. 'This is something we've been waiting on for a long time.'
Yahoo
16-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Warning over Aussie snake surge
Seven people were taken to hospital with snake bites in Queensland over the weekend, with paramedics being called out to treat 15 people for snake bites over the last week. A man in his 30s was left in a potentially life threatening condition on Sunday after he was bitten on the ankle by a snake at a Morayfield property north of Brisbane. He was rushed to Caboolture Hospital after paramedics were called about 3.16pm. A total of seven people were taken to hospital with snake bites across the state over the weekend, according to the ABC, while Queensland Ambulance received 24 reports of snake bites in the week leading to February 10, with the most reports in the Gold Coast (five), Cairns and Hinterland (four) and Darling Downs (four). There were 88 reports received across the state in November 2024, with the figure jumping significantly to 129 in December before a slight drop to 128 in January this year. A surge in people going to hospital with snake bites in the Rockhampton area was also recorded between November last year and January 2025, according to The Courier Mail, while 16-year-old Beau Horan died following a snake bite in Wurdong Heights last November. Snake catcher David Voss said it had been a 'busy summer', and told The Courier Mail snake season had started a little earlier than usual following a warm winter last year. 'Snakes are very seasonal, so obviously during the warmer months there's a lot more activity,' Mr Voss told the masthead. Queensland Ambulance Service Rockhampton acting operations supervisor Joseph O'Donnell urged Queenslanders to 'avoid snakes'. 'If you see a snake, leave it alone,' Mr O'Donnell said. 'We assume every snake bite is a venomous bite.' He said snake bite symptoms could vary from vomiting and diarrhoea to significant pain at the site of the bite. However some people may not even realise they've been bitten as they aren't always visible, and can't always be felt right away. 'Symptoms of a snake bite might not appear for an hour or more. It's important to act quickly if you think a snake has bitten you or someone else,' the Queensland Health website stated. 'If a snake bites you or someone else don't panic, run or try to catch the snake. You should move to a safe place and stay still. Don't wash, suck or cut the bite site.' The site urged people to call Triple Zero if a snake bite occurred. 'What you do next depends on where the bite is. Always lie the person down to stop them from walking or moving around until the ambulance arrives,' the website stated. Specific information on how to treat bites depending on where the bite has occurred can be found on the Queensland Health website.
