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LOS ANGELES, Sep 10, 2006 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Thomas Kinkade, the best-selling U.S. artist, may soon face two class-action suits, a civil racketeering case and a related FBI investigation, a report says.
The New York Daily News reported that since a California judge awarded two art dealers $860,000 earlier this year after they alleged the famous Christian artist illegally bankrupted them, dozens of other dealers have done the same and the FBI has begun looking into the matter.
Kinkade has been accused of manipulating the stock prices of his company, placing unfair restrictions on sales of his art and undercutting his works' value, all while painting religious-based works.
"I'm a person of faith myself, and I'm really disturbed by Kinkade's use of Jesus to perpetrate a scam," the lawyer behind the civil racketeering case against Kinkade, Norman Yatooma, contended. "There are a lot of unhappy people out there who invested several hundred thousand dollars under the inducement of sharing God's light, while at the same time making money."
The newspaper said a spokesman for the self-described "Painter of Light," a registered trademark, has said all of the allegations are unfounded.
URL: www.upi.com Copyright 2006 by United Press International
