LOS ANGELES — The owner of a pawn shop in the Mid-City area of Los Angeles was charged Tuesday with conspiring to sell a stolen Andy Warhol print trial proof, which was shipped from the Beverly Hills office of an auction house to Dallas, then lying about it to federal agents.
Glenn Steven Bednarsh, 58, of Farmington, Michigan and formerly of Beverly Hills, was charged in a two-count federal grand jury indictment with conspiracy and interstate transportation of stolen goods, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
He is expected to be arraigned in the coming weeks in U.S. District Court in downtown Los Angeles.
According to the indictment, in February 2021, Bednarsh knowingly purchased for $6,000 a stolen Warhol trial proof depicting Russian revolutionary and Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin, which is worth an estimated $175,000. Bednarsh allegedly asked a co-conspirator, Brian Alec Light, 58, of Hudson, Ohio, and formerly a resident of downtown Los Angeles, to help him sell the stolen trial proof. Light allegedly then contacted the Beverly Hills office of an auction house based in Dallas about selling the Warhol trial proof.
Print trial proofs allow artists to experiment with variations and adjustments before finalizing the work. They allow the printer to pause the printing operation before printing the remaining copies.
In March 2021, Bednarsh transported the trial proof to the Beverly Hills office of the auction house, which then shipped it to Dallas, prosecutors said. Light e-signed an auction house consignment agreement and called the auction house to state he had dropped off the trial proof and to ask about receiving a cash advance for it, court papers allege.
An employee of the auction house in Dallas reached out to the gallery for its opinion of the piece, according to court documents. The gallery immediately recognized the piece as stolen, then notified the auction house and the FBI.
Later in March 2021, when FBI agents began inquiring about the stolen trial proof, Light lied to them by saying he bought it at a Culver City garage sale for $18,000 and provided a fake receipt, federal prosecutors said.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, in August and September of 2021, Bednarsh lied to FBI agents by telling them Light asked him to store the Warhol Lenin trial proof for him and that he agreed to do so out of friendship and not for financial gain.
Light pleaded guilty in November 2024 to one count of interstate transportation of stolen goods. His sentencing is currently set for May 27, and he faces up to 10 years in federal prison, federal prosecutors said.
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