Admittance Of Guilt of the Day: After admitting to destroying evidence in order to strengthen his claim that he did not infringe on copyright in creating his iconic “Hope” poster, noted LA-based street artist Shepard Fairey today pleaded guilty to a charge of criminal misconduct and faces up to six months in prison.
Fairey filed a 2009 lawsuit against the Associated Press following allegations that he used one of the news organization’s photos to produce his artwork. The 42-year-old initially claimed he had used a different photo of then-candidate Barack Obama, but soon admitted to lying.
Making matters worse, Fairey tried to cover up the lie by destroying documents and replacing them with fabricated ones. “I was ashamed that I had done these things, and I knew I should have corrected my actions,” he told a judge in Manhattan’s Federal District Court.
The AP settled with Fairey out of court last year.
Sentencing will take place on July 16th. In addition to six months behind bars, Fairey also faces a year’s worth of supervised released and a fine of $5,000.
[latimes / nytimes / photo: chicagonow.]
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