William J. Toye

William James Toye (born August 15, 1931, died 2018) was an art forger in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He painted in styles copied from Paul Gauguin, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Alfred Sisley; Toye also copied the style of Claude Monet. Toye, his wife, and Robert E. Lucky, a New Orleans art dealer, were indicted on charges of conspiracy to commit mail fraud in 2010. On June 6, 2011, Toye pleaded guilty to conspiracy to sell counterfeit Clementine Hunter paintings, to misrepresenting the authenticity and origin of the paintings, and to painting the counterfeited Hunter artwork. William and Beryl Toye pleaded guilty to mail fraud charges in 2011 and were sentenced to two-years probation and ordered to pay $426,393 in restitution to the victims of the fraud. Robert Lucky was also convicted of mail fraud in January 2012 and was sentenced to 25 months in prison.

"Strange story" Toye's life story is called by Garden & Gun magazine, a "strange story" and moved to the United States in March 1923. He worked at the Reed Unit Fan Company in New Orleans.

Toye was a poor student and dropped out of high school. At the age of 17, he moved to New York City and worked at the Metropolitan Opera one summer.

In 1951, he moved back to New Orleans, where he went to work for engineering firms making architectural models. In his spare time, he studied art books and taught himself to paint.

Hunter met his wife, the former Beryl Spalding, from London, when she visited New Orleans in 1967.

Between 1967 and 2000, Toye and his wife set up several corporations in Louisiana, including two flood-control companies, a funding company, and two building companies. and Toye says he was framed. The charges were dropped. The auction was halted after New York art dealers questioned most of the other 126 paintings scheduled for auction and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) opened an inquiry.

In September 2009, the FBI raided the Toyes home as part of their investigation of reports of forgery of Hunter's works. The FBI said the Toyes and Lucky “engaged in a conspiracy and a scheme to defraud several victims [in] Louisiana and in other states ... [and] knowingly sold forgeries as original, authentic works of art by Clementine Hunter.” in a conspiracy to sell counterfeit Hunter paintings with New Orleans antique dealer Robert E. Lucky, Jr. Some paintings, returned to Lucky by buyers who suspected they were fakes, were resold to other buyers. a maximum of five years in prison.