ABSTRACT
In describing the 'face of contemporary organised crime in Australia' the 2011 Australian Crime Commission (ACC) has stated Organised crime is sophisticated, resilient, highly diversified and pervasive. Current patterns of organised crime are more complex now than at any point in history. Organised crime groups are entrepreneurial and unrestrained by legislation, borders, morality or technology. As the organisational relationships described above have existed in the Australian art market for decades, there is an urgent need to take significant steps to eradicate the conditions that allow art fraud to be carried out with such impunity. It is hoped that this chapter will serve as a clarion call to art market professionals, law enforcement agencies and government to make an equal and concerted effort to undertake the reforms necessary to detect and prosecute the criminals whose activities prejudice the future of this important market.
