The long, twisty saga of Basquiat’s scandal at the Orlando Museum took a major step towards closure on Monday as the family of former director Aaron de Groft, who passed away last month, agreed to file a lawsuit against each other. Ta.
“This has been a very difficult time for the museum’s history and for all involved,” said Castlin Matson, the museum’s executive director. “This is the logical next step after he passed away. It had to be finished.”
The scandal broke in June 2022 when FBI agents stormed the museum and seized artwork at the museum’s “Heroes & Monsters” exhibit. The work, which stems from acclaimed artist Jean Michel Basquiat who passed away in 1988, has become part of an ongoing investigation into art fraud. The California man later admitted that he had created some of the art that was mistakenly attributed to Basquiat.
FBI seizes Conflict Basquiat exhibit at Orlando Museum
Museum Director Aaron de Groft arranged the exhibition and was the champion of the work. After the FBI attack, he was fired by the museum’s board of directors. In August 2023, the museum sued De Groft, saying he had betrayed the fiduciary’s obligations to guarantee. De Groft filed a countersuit several months later, seeking damages for his honor and unfair dismissal.
In Florida, his family took over responsibility for the case after De Groft passed away in January, as lawsuits do not automatically end the death of the litigant. The family has not announced any specific cause of death, referring to the “short illness” in the obituary they wrote. De Groft’s lawyers confirmed with Sentinel, who was undergoing treatment for a private illness.
Aaron de Groft, whose “Basquiat” exhibition triggers a scandal at Orlando Museum, dies at 59
Mattson said the museum and his family would dismiss the legal action after De Groft’s death on January 18th, as they “didn’t think it would be wise or cost-effective to continue this lawsuit.” He said he agreed. The agreement, known as the joint provision for dismissal, was filed Monday.
The termination ends the museum’s major legal involvement in the ongoing story. The FBI investigation remains open, but museum officials say the agency is not a target. This art is owned by a consortium of collectors outside of Florida.
Insurance companies are trying to deny millions of people with claims about Basquiat’s “fake”
These owners are currently involved in another lawsuit over a nearly $20 million insurance claim. The Liberty Mutural and Great American Insurance Companies are seeking a court ruling because they do not have to pay claims filed by the owner over art seized by the FBI. The museum is named in the lawsuit, but as a policy engineer, the judgment does not affect the museum financially or otherwise.
After the FBI attack, the museum received a tough cash crunch, but later, according to Mattson, who joined the museum staff in April 2023, almost a year after the FBI attack, the facility then joined the museum’s staff in April 2023. It ended with black people rebelling. And although there was an early loss of reliability with the public segment, the museum is steadily increasing the pre-existing pandemic level.
Orlando Museum Director: “We should have gone bankrupt,” but “it’s a new day.”
Another outcome of the scandal: Oma was placed on probation by the American Museums Alliance, as the museums were called. Mattson previously said the museum is working to end its probation status at a national accreditation agency.
An official statement issued to the media on behalf of the museum, which celebrated its centenary last year, reiterated that the agency’s focus is on its future.
“The filing of the joint provision of dismissal will completely close the lawsuit between OMA and De Groft and De Groft and OMA,” the statement read. “It is OMA’s sincere hope that this step will allow OMA to work with its key constituencies to advance its mission.
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Original issue: February 24th, 2025, 5:27pm EST
