A former Beverly Hills resident and owner of a La Pawn Shop attempted to sell the stolen Andy Warhol artwork to federal agents.
Glenn Steven Bednarsh, 58, is accused of intending to buy a stolen Warhol trial evidence, portraying Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin for $6,000 in February 2021. He then tried to sell it to a Dallas-based auction house, a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office said on Tuesday.
The trial of the iconic pop singer proved that he had only 46, an estimated $175,000.
Bednarsh, now living in Farmington, Michigan, is charged with two established federal grand jury indictments and conspiracy to and interstate transportation stolen.
Authorities said the owner of the authority asked Brian Alec Light, 58, of Hudson, Ohio, who was previously from downtown Los Angeles to help him sell stolen artworks. Light allegedly contacted the auction house in March 2021, where Bednarsh shipped the work to the Beverly Hills office, which then shipped it to the base in Dallas. Officials did not name auction houses or pawn shops.
According to court documents, an employee of the Dallas Auction house reached out to an art gallery in West Hollywood to see the work, which immediately admitted that the work was stolen. According to the press release, the gallery was not identified by authorities and then notified the auction house and the FBI that the work was stolen.
When asked about the March 2021 artwork, allegedly lied to FBI agents, saying he purchased the piece for $18,000 in a garage sale in Culver City and offered forgery of a forged deal. As the investigation continued, FBI agents questioned Bednarsh in August and September of the same year, allegedly saying to investigators that Light asked him to store artworks without any financial benefit.
According to another press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, theft brought the artwork to Bednarsh’s pawnshop, who was stolen by an unknown thief, not Bednarsh in another press release in 2024.
Lenin’s Trial Proof is just one of several Warhol’s works that have been the subject of high-profile art theft. Warhol’s 1972 screen printing, called Mao, was stolen from Orange Coast College in March 2024. In 2009, millions of dollars of Warhol originals were stolen from a Los Angeles house. Several other Warhol thefts have made headlines over the past few decades.
Light pleaded guilty in November 2024 to one count of interstate transport of goods. His sentence was decided on May 27, facing up to 10 years in federal prison.
Bed Nash is expected to be arraigned in the U.S. District Court in downtown Los Angeles in the coming weeks.
