Months after guilty verdict, art fraudster awaits sentencing
Case returns to court next month when it's expected Crown will finish cross-examining expert on Norval Morrisseau's artwork
By Peter Robinson (Newmarket News)
September 16, 2026
Ten months after a Barrie jury returned a guilty verdict in what was expected to be the last art-fraud case related to the selling of fake Norval Morrisseau works, the lone man convicted after a trial has yet to be sentenced.
Jeff Cowan, 50, who a jury found guilty of fraud and forgery counts last November, returned to court last week when his defence counsel, Nathan Gorham, finished his questioning of Morrisseau expert John Zemanovich.
The Crown has not yet indicated what it intends to propose to Superior Court Justice Laura Bird by way of sentence.
Cowan represented himself at trial, but hired Gorham for the sentencing portion of his case. Gorham has attempted to mitigate his client’s conduct by showing how extensive the marketplace has been penetrated by fraudulent works purported to be done by Morrisseau.
Court has also heard evidence that people connected to Morrisseau may have been complicit in mimicked paintings being sold.
Crown attorney Joseph Heller, in his brief cross-examination of Zemanovich on Friday, pushed back on the notion that such evidence somehow mitigates Cowan’s guilt.
In a series of quick-fire questions put to him, Zemanovich agreed with Heller that other people’s conduct did not excuse Cowan.
In another line of questioning, Zemanovich also agreed that Cowan did not have to participate in the painting of dodgy art for him to be culpable.
Zemanovich agreed with Heller that the “Cowan species” of fake Morrisseaus made available to unwitting buyers was not just “one or two,” but instead numbered in the “hundreds.”
