Norval Morrisseau's legacy 'irrevocably damaged' due to art fraud, says judge giving man 5 years in prison

The man who oversaw the creation of thousands of forged artworks in Thunder Bay, Ont., falsely attributed to Anishinaabe artist Norval Morrisseau faces a five-year penitentiary sentence.

David John Voss pleaded guilty on June 4 to counts of forgery and uttering forged documents for operating an art fraud ring out of Thunder Bay between 1996 and 2019. 

Investigators have called the case Canada's largest art fraud investigation, resulting in more than 1,000 paintings seized.

The sentence for Voss, 52, was handed down on Thursday by Superior Court Justice Bonnie Warkentin.

"The purpose of the creation of these fake paintings was to gain an economic benefit, but in the course of creating and selling these fakes, the legacy of Norval Morrisseau has been irrevocably damaged," Warkentin told the court.

"His spirituality has been undermined and tarnished, so today, we have one small opportunity to address this wrong."

Morrisseau died at age 75 in 2007. The renowned artist from the Ojibway Bingwi Neyaashi Anishinaabek First Nation in northwestern Ontario is known as the founder of the Woodlands School of Art. His work has been exhibited in galleries across Canada, including at Rideau Hall in Ottawa.

"This is more than just an art fraud. It's an appropriation of a cultural and spiritual identity of one of Canada's most loved and valued artists," Warkentin said.

According to an agreed statement of facts heard in court this past June, Voss developed an assembly-line process and enlisted multiple painters in the fraud ring. He would draw an outline in pencil and then mark the areas to be coloured in with letter codes corresponding to different colours.

"The painters were paid to apply the paint in accordance with this 'paint by numbers' process," said the statement.

A total of eight people were charged in March 2023 in connection with the art fraud ring, after a years-long police investigation involving the Thunder Bay Police Service and Ontario Provincial Police:

In December 2023, Lamont — who was considered the "ringleader" of the operation — was sentenced to five years of incarceration, with credit for one year of time already served. He pleaded guilty to a charge of making false documents, mainly artwork, attributed to Morrisseau, and a count of defrauding the public in an amount exceeding $5,000.

The charges against Champagne were withdrawn during Thursday's proceedings. Others facing charges in connection with the case are expected back in court in the new year, the court heard.

Cory Dingle, executive director of Morrisseau's estate, addressed the courtroom ahead of Voss's sentencing. He spoke of the financial hardships Morrisseau faced at the end of his life, "after a lifetime of giving."