Accused art fraudsters face German court

Four suspected art fraudsters appeared in a German courtroom on Thursday, accused of running a high-profile forgery scam that may be the largest of its kind in German history.

More than 160 witnesses are expected to appear during the trial, which will span 40 days in the western German city of Cologne. They will testify about roughly 44 paintings sold over the past decade.

German artist Wolfgang Beltracchi stands accused of having led the operation, which targeted modern art collectors and galleries around the world to sell them phony paintings and certificates.

Also arrested were his wife Helene, his sister-in-law Jeanette and her husband, Otto Schulte-Kellinghaus.

The scam offered forgeries of artwork by artists like Heinrich Campendonk, Kees Van Dongen, Max Pechstein and Max Ernst, describing them as previously unknown works that had been hidden away for years by an unnamed collector.

The controversy may be the biggest art forgery scandal in the nation's history, according to German news magazine Der Spiegel. High-profile victims include Hollywood actor Steve Martin and New York publisher Daniel Filipacchi. 

Der Spiegel reported that Filipacchi was among the hardest hit, having paid $7 million US for a bogus copy of Ernst's La Forêt.

A judgment on the case is expected by March 2012.

High-profile art heists have risen around the world, with Canadian police investigating between 90 and 100 cases every year.