Spotlight 84-250311

Good morning. In today’s Spotlight:

Fraud Claims against Grove Gallery
Kids Lacrosse in Coconut Grove
Student Artists Win Scholarships
A New Fund for Local News

Fake Art, Real Scandal? Fraud Claims Mount Against Grove Art Dealer

Coconut Grove gallery owner Les Roberts is mastering the art of promoting his brand, even as he faces renewed allegations of bilking clients and selling forged artwork.

By Izzy Kapnick

Tucked off Commodore Plaza in the heart of Coconut Grove, a vibrant, color-soaked art gallery run by Leslie “Les” Roberts brands itself as a “globally recognized institution blending the timeless works of Old Masters” with high-end contemporary art.

Miami Fine Art Gallery, as it’s called, appears to be thriving: plenty of foot traffic on a recent Saturday afternoon, a steady stream of glowing media reports in industry publications, and social media posts showing smiling customers, a growing and grateful cast of artists, a DJ at an in-gallery soiree, and a group of City of Miami Police officers posing wide-eyed in front of Andy Warhol’s iconic Marilyn Monroe silkscreen prints.

But behind the image of a successful entrepreneur – a “visionary” of the art world, as one recent press release describes him – Roberts is attracting a far less flattering form of attention: mounting allegations that he’s swindled millions of dollars from wealthy, very unsuspecting, art collectors.

Over the past six years a string of lawsuits has alleged that Roberts sold his clients forged works by Warhol and the popular French street artist Invader and, in other instances, failed to deliver high-priced pieces after receiving customers’ payments.

The first of the lawsuits arrived in Miami-Dade County’s court system while Roberts was still on supervised release from a 2014 felony case in which he was charged and pleaded guilty to a similar crime: dealing in fake art. Prosecutors accused him of selling forged artworks and defrauding consignment clients by swapping their genuine pieces with counterfeits.

Several customers who say they were deceived by Roberts in recent years claim they had no knowledge, at the time of their purchases, of the prior art fraud charges.

Kids Lacrosse in Coconut Grove

A new youth lacrosse club in Coconut Grove is giving kids a chance to learn and play a sport that is growing in popularity.

By Ethan Mannello

When Coconut Grove dad Stefan Gruber went looking for a lacrosse club where his young son could play the sport with kids his own age, he was told there weren’t a lot of options.

His son Sebastian had been playing lacrosse with the Miami Stone Crabs in Pinecrest, but a schedule change – and Miami traffic – made that all but impossible for the family.

Rather than give up on a sport he had played in high school, Gruber reached out to his former coach for suggestions. Together, they hit on a possible solution – a lacrosse club for families and kids in Coconut Grove.

Gruber and Billy Rieder – a fellow Coconut Grove dad – put the idea into play, launching the Stingrays Lacrosse Club in November 2023 for their sons and other kids.

Since then, the club has grown to include 20 to 30 players split between two teams – one for younger kids and a second team for kids ages eight to 10 – and seven coaches, four of whom are paid.

“What this program has become, having all these players and resources at our fingertips, is about as rewarding as it gets,” Gruber said. “We get to have all of our friends and kids come together to play a great sport; it doesn’t get much better than that.”

The Stingrays practice twice a week, play a couple games in season, and end with a tournament in May where they compete against other youth lacrosse teams in South Florida.

Art Students Honored

Organizers of the annual Young Artists’ Gallery at the Woman’s Club of Coconut Grove on Sunday awarded more than $39,000 in scholarship money and prizes to public school art students.

By Spotlight Staff

Twenty-two students from public high schools across Miami-Dade County were honored on Sunday for their artistic talent during the 2025 Young Artists’ Gallery show and sale at the Woman’s Club of Coconut Grove.

Organizers of the annual event awarded more than $39,000 in college scholarship money and prizes to the winning students, whose work was among 152 pieces of original art on display at the juried show.

Adriana Castillo, a senior at Pinecrest Glades Academy, won “best in show” and a $5,000 scholarship for her oil painting titled “Marileidy Paulino.” The award was given in memory of Woman’s Club member Sandy Riley.

Take the Survey: What Local News Means to You

The Miami Foundation and four partner foundations in South Florida are raising money to support independent nonprofit news organizations like the Coconut Grove Spotlight. The initiative – called Press Forward South Florida – has received $3 million in seed funding from the Knight Foundation in Miami, and hopes to begin grantmaking later this year. In the meantime, the five foundations want to hear from news consumers across South Florida about what local news means to them. Follow this link to participate in the survey.

“We believe local news encourages our community to ask more challenging questions, dig deeper into critical issues, and own our solutions,” Rebecca Fishman Lipsey, president of the Miami Foundation, said in a statement. “Local news can help us connect across differences, build a better future, and feel at home here in South Florida.”

In addition to the Miami Foundation and Knight Foundation, Press Forward South Florida partners include community foundations in Coral Gables, Key Biscayne and Broward County.