Seven people were charged for operating a multi-million dollar international art forgery ring and were put under arrest. The ring is not international only by name. Four Americans, two Spaniards and an Italian were arrested for taking part in the production and selling hundreds of counterfeit prints around the world.

The fakes they were selling included very close replicas of masterpieces painted by artists such as Picasso, Chagall, Miro and Dali. The average prices were near $50,000 (£25,000) apiece.

They had a huge success and many people bought the fake art works, most of them through the internet auction site eBay.

Besides Ebay.com, they were also selling the fake art works in galleries, at art shows. This happened between July 1999 and October 2007, the police report showed. Their clients included art lovers from the United States, Canada, Australia, Europe and Japan.

Police investigators from the United States and Spain collaborated in the operation. According to them, the fake art works were made somewhere in Europe. Most of them were replicas of original limited-edition prints.

Police officials also released the names of those put under arrest for being involved in the forgery ring: Oswaldo Aulesti-Bach of Spain, Elio Bonfiglioli and Patrizia Soliani of Italy, James Kennedy and Michael Zabrin of United States.

Kennedy’s part in this scheme was forging the signatures, while Zabrin, a Chicago art dealer, was in charge with selling the prints and with providing fake certificates of authenticity. Two other art dealers from the U.S. have also been charged.

The police investigation report shows that the ring issued 2,500 counterfeit (Alexander) Calder prints and 600 counterfeit Chagall prints" according to US attorney Patrick Fitzgerald.

Until now they won $5 million by selling the forgeries, but are now facing up to 20 years in prison, if convicted.