New Yorker pleads guilty to selling fake Jackson Pollock works to pay for personal submarine

NEW YORK, Dec. 2 (UPI) -- A New York Man pleaded guilty to over $2.5 million in fraud stemming from nearly a decade of sales of fake works of art he claimed were painted by legendary artists Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning, among others.

East Hamptonite John Re pleaded guilty to wire fraud in federal court Monday, admitting to selling the fake artwork on eBay since 2005, complete with fake authentication documents and fabricated provinces. Wary collectors who attempted to confront Re directly were threatened with mafia retaliation from his claimed ties to organized crime.

A portion of Re's fraudulent earnings were spent on a personal submarine, a retrofitted working replica of the USS Deep Quest. In 2007 Re gloated, "I wonder how many subs have been seen on the Harlem River," in a New York Times profile about the lavish purchase.

Under his current plea bargain, Re must forfeit all the funds from the forged artwork, but he cannot renege the purchase of Deep Quest until he has fully paid for it with other finances.

Re faces up to 20 years in prison when he is sentenced in April 2015.

The art forgeries are not Re's first foray into high-end fraud -- in 1995 he was charged, and again pleaded guilty to his role in a counterfeiting ring.