Gallery New Form founder handed over to Poland
13.01.2022
Detained in Spain, Joanna S., suspected of fraudulent trading in fictitious works of art, was extradited to Poland under the European Arrest Warrant and placed in one of the detention centers in Warsaw. The arrest of the suspect in October 2021 was the result of joint activities of the Internal Security Agency, the Prosecutor's Office and the Police.
The investigation concerns the fictitious trade of artifacts and the existing of so-called financial pyramid created around Gallery New Form. Material gathered during the investigation indicates that the business was based on collecting money from entities and individuals for a specified period of time at a predetermined interest rate. Clients were told that their funds would be invested in artworks. The investigation revealed that in fact much of the money invested was never secured in real artifacts.
A significant number of that venture participants have not got their money back. Their losses are estimated at about one billion PLN. In total, approximately 2,000 people were convinced to make unfavorable deals, between November 2016 and October 2017.
Joanna S. and Mikael S., who organized the fraud, had been hiding in Spain since at least 2019. They were wanted on an APB, a European Arrest Warrant and an Interpol Red Notice.
The extensive activities of the Internal Security Agency, the Regional Prosecutor's Office in Bialystok which was supervising the investigation and the National Police Headquarters made it possible to detain the wanted by the Spanish police.
Joanna S., who was released to Poland, will be brought to the prosecutor's office, where she will hear charges of, among others, fraud in the amount of almost 400 million PLN, conducting banking activities without a permit and the so-called money laundering in the amount of almost 45 million PLN.
Source: Prosecutor’s Office