Earl Marshawn Washington (born 1962) is an American entrepreneur, printmaker, woodcut artist and art forger.
[1][2] E.M. Washington is an African American artist and reported his great-grandfather as such, which led to increased interest in the work.
[1] A criminal complaint was filed in Kalamazoo County, Michigan, by the owners of Prairie Home Antiques, who had purchased 82 prints from Washington for $1,640 on 17 June 2004.
These include the works Lute, Man with Cuboid, Six Birds, Thirteen Flying Fish, Letter H, Letter A, Spherical Self Portrait, Retreat, Candle, Frog, Dice, Scales, Anvil, Watering Can, Devil Vignette, and Fish and Frogs.
[5] Following a plea arrangement that vacated broader charges, Washington and his wife, Zsanett Nagy, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud (and in Nagy's case, to money laundering); after they each admitted selling inauthentic woodblocks and prints made from them, items advertised as being from the 15th to early 20th centuries, Nagy was sentenced to time served (with potential for deportation, January 2024), and Washington was sentenced to 52 months in prison, and ordered to serve 3-years of supervised release after it, and to pay more than US$ 203,000 in restitution to victims (April 2024).