Tag: Andy Warhol

BEVERLY HILLS—On Tuesday, January 13, Glenn Bednarsh, a former Beverly Hills resident who once owned a pawnshop and was involved in an effort to sell a stolen trial Andy Warhol print, was sentenced.

Back in September 2025, he pleaded guilty in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom to making false statements to the Federal Bureau of Investigation about his role in the effort.

Bednarsh was sentenced to 6 weeks of community service as part of a plea agreement.  As part of this agreement, Bednarash admitted that he lied to the Federal Bureau of Investigation when he said that his co-conspirator, Brian Alec Light, stored the stolen Warhol print.  In addition, he admitted that the reason this transpired was financial gain, not friendship, as he claimed to the federal investigators.

The Warhol print is one that depicts Soviet Union leader Vladimir Lenin, and it was stolen back in 2021.

According to federal prosecutors, Glenn bought it in February 2021 for $6000, after which he decided to sell it and asked his co-conspirator, Brian Alec Light, to help, and according to the prosecutors, this prompted Light to reach out to the Beverly Hills office of a Dallas auction house about selling the Warhol print.

Following this, Light told Bednarsh to take the print to the Beverly Hills office so that it could be transported to Dallas where it would be inspected and then sold at auction.

A worker at the Beverly Hills office contacted the gallery in West Hollywood to get its opinion of the artwork, and the gallery recognized it as the one that had been stolen.  This prompted the gallery to notify the Dallas auction house that the Warhol print was stolen artwork and to notify the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which led to the start of a federal investigation into the theft.

Brian Alec Light, 59, is also a resident of Los Angeles. In November 2024, he pleaded guilty to one count of interstate transportation of stolen goods, and last month, he was sentenced to probation and ordered to pay roughly $1,915 in restitution.

One of the requirements of his sentence was that Light admit that he lied to the Federal Bureau of Investigation back in 2021, when the FBI started investigating the theft of the print, by telling the FBI that he bought the Warhol print at a Culver City garage sale and paid $18,000 for it. He showed the agents a receipt that was fake.  The plea agreement also required Light to surrender the Warhol print, which the investigators later recovered.

This print was stolen several years ago from a home in Los Angeles County, but prosecutors do not believe the two men stole it from its original owner.

In addition, the print is number 44 of 46 by Andy Warhol and is worth about $170,000. No suspects in the theft of this print have been publicly identified by authorities.

 

By Daniel Diquinzio

BEVERLY HILLS—On Tuesday, April 22, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California issued a press release announcing the indictment of Glenn Steven Bednarsh, 58, from Farmington, Michigan, but formerly a resident of Beverly Hills for conspiracy to sell a stolen Andy Warhol print trial proof.

According to the press release the proof was shipped from his Beverly Hills office to an auction site in Dallas, Texas, and then lied about it.

The following information came directly from the press release:

“Glenn Steven Bednarsh, 58, of Farmington, Michigan and formerly of Beverly Hills, is charged in a two-count federal grand jury indictment with conspiracy and interstate transportation of stolen goods.

He is expected to be arraigned in the coming weeks in United States District Court in downtown Los Angeles.

According to the indictment in February 2021 Bednarsh knowingly purchased for $6,000 a stolen Warhol trial proof depicting Russian revolutionary and Soviet Union leader Vladimir Lenin, which is worth an estimated $175,000.

Bednarsh allegedly asked a co-conspirator, Brian Alec Light 58 of Hudson, Ohio, and formerly a resident of downtown Los Angeles, to help him sell the stolen Warhol Lenin trial proof. Light then contacted the Beverly Hills office of an auction house based in Dallas about selling the Warhol trial proof.

In March 2021, Bednarsh transported the trial proof to the Beverly Hills office of the auction house, which then shipped it to Dallas. Light e-signed an auction house consignment agreement and called the auction house to state he had dropped off the trial proof and to ask about receiving a cash advance for it.

An employee of the auction house in Dallas reached out to the gallery in West Hollywood for its opinion of the piece, according to court documents. The gallery immediately recognized the piece as stolen, then notified the auction house and the FBI.

Later in March 2021, when FBI agents began inquiring about the stolen Warhol trial proof, Light lied to them by saying he bought it at a Culver City garage sale for $18,000 and provided a fake receipt.

In August and September of 2021, Bednarsh lied to FBI agents by telling them Light asked him to store the Warhol Lenin trial proof for him and that he agreed to do so out of friendship and not for financial gain.”

In November 2024, Light pleaded guilty to one count of interstate transportation of stolen goods. His sentencing date is scheduled for May 27. He faces up to 10 years in federal prison.

There is an Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Andy Warhol an American visual artist, film director, and producer, and a leader in what is known today as pop art.

The yellow sculpture of Andy Warhol was created by sculptor Jack Dowd.

By Sharon