THUNDER BAY –
Mass forgeries of Indigenous artist Norval Morrisseau’s paintings have caused irreparable harm to the trailblazer’s legacy — and to First Nations art writ large, an Ontario judge acknowledged Thursday in sentencing one of the ringleaders of a sprawling fraud scheme.
David Voss was handed a five-year prison sentence in a Thunder Bay, Ont., court for his role in producing and distributing thousands of Morrisseau fakes from 1996 to the mid-2010s. He had pleaded guilty in June to one count of forgery and one count of uttering forged documents.
Voss is the second person involved in the scheme to receive what is considered a stiff penalty for major fraud. Gary Lamont also got a five-year sentence after pleading guilty to two charges. Six others were charged last year.
Justice Bonnie Warkentin’s decision marked a major milestone in the case, with Voss described by Crown prosecutors as the “principal architect” behind the …