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Wilton resident Nicholas Hatch, age 29, waived his right to be indicted and pleaded guilty on Monday, Aug. 7 to a fraud offense resulting from his scheme to sell fraudulent paintings, according to the US Attorney's Office for the District of Connecticut.
According to federal officials, Hatch, the owner of Norwalk-based estate sales company Hatch Estate Services LLC, used various websites between April 2020 and January 2022 to sell paintings that he claimed were created by the artist Peter Max. One of these websites was Estatesales.org, a website specializing in estate sales and auctions.
While interacting with purchasers through email during the sale process, Hatch would use multiple aliases, federal officials said, also adding that he would make various representations as to the paintings’ authenticity despite knowing that they were not actually created by Max.
This included providing purchasers with false certificates of the works’ authenticity.
Ultimately, Hatch sold 145 of the counterfeit paintings and defrauded 43 victims out of $248,600.
Hatch was eventually arrested on Tuesday, May 9 following a criminal complaint. He has been detained in custody since Friday, July 14 after violating his conditions of pre-trial release.
On Monday, Hatch pleaded guilty to a charge of mail fraud, which carries a maximum prison term of 20 years. He will be sentenced on Monday, Oct. 30.
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