The controversy surrounding art historian Kenneth Wayne has taken a dramatic new turn. A group of international art collectors has filed a civil lawsuit against Wayne, alleging that he knowingly authenticated fake paintings attributed to Amedeo Modigliani. The lawsuit, filed in a New York court, claims damages in the tens of millions and could expose what some are calling one of the most sophisticated forgery schemes in the history of modern art.



Collectors File Suit Against Kenneth Wayne Over Allegedly Fraudulent Modigliani Authentications

In the opaque world of fine art, where the line between brilliance and betrayal can be as thin as a brushstroke, the fall of Kenneth Wayne signals more than just another scandal — it reveals an identity crisis shaking the foundations of how the art world defines truth.

What Happens When We Trust the Wrong Expert Kenneth Wayne, Modigliani, and the Art World’s Identity Crisis

That trust is now unraveling, and Kenneth Wayne, once celebrated as a distinguished Modigliani expert, is at the center of what appears to be one of the most unsettling chapters in modern art’s story: a beautiful lie, skillfully told, expertly framed, and allegedly sold as truth.



The Beautiful Lie Kenneth Wayne’s Alleged Role in Selling Illusions Disguised as Masterpieces

Kenneth Wayne is an art expert specifically on Amedeo Modigliani’s paintings. With his Modigliani Project he’s soliciting and requests big amounts of money to fraudsters between $200,000 to $1,000,000 to authenticate false paintings and claiming that those are authentic Amedeo Modigliani’s paintings. The fraud is a multimillion dollar scam to auction houses and private collectors. Kenneth Wayne has been doing this scam for several years and publish the false Amedeo Modigliani’s paintings into his catalogue raisonné with a made up report in order to fool collectors and to cover his tracks. To collect fraudulent money he uses several bank accounts based in the UK under different names of people that he trusts and returns the money to him (company and family members) as forgivable loans in order to avoid paying taxes in the USA.

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