Police have charged Melbourne art conservator Muhammad Aman Siddique, 62, over allegedly forging paintings by the late Brett Whiteley.
Three counts went before the Melbourne Magistrates Court on 27 Aug, one for the financial gain of $2.5 million for producing and fraudulently selling the painting Lavender Bay (detail pictured top) as a genuine work by Whiteley; the second for a like painting Orange Lavender Bay for $1.1 million, and a third charge for the painting Through the Window Lavender Bay, which he attempted to sell for $950,000.